EXCHANGE 


innfpersitE  ot  Cbicago 


RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION  IN  THE 

PUBLIC  SCHOOLS  OF  THE  STATE 

AND  CITY  OF  NEW  YORK 

A  HISTORICAL  STUDY 


A  DISSERTATION 

SUBMITTED   TO  THE   FACULTY   OF   THE   GRADUATE   SCHOOL    OF  ARTS 

AND  LITERATURE  IN  CANDIDACY  FOR  THE   DEGREE  OF 

DOCTOR   OF   PHILOSOPHY 

(THE  GRADUATE  DIVINITY  SCHOOL:    RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION) 


BY 
ARTHUR  JACKSON  HALL 


THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  CHICAGO  PRESS 
CHICAGO,  ILLINOIS 


COPYRIGHT  1914  BY 
THE  UNIVERSITY  or  CHICAGO 


All  Rights  Reserved 


Published  June  1914 


Composed  and  Printed  By 

The  University  of  Chicago  Press 

Chicago.  Illinois,  U.S.A. 


TO 

MY  FATHER  AND  MOTHER 

WHO  FIRST  LED  ME  IN  THE  WAY 
OF  KNOWLEDGE  AND 

TO 

MY  WIFE 
THE  INSPIRATION  OF  AFTER  YEARS 


306178 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

BIBLIOGRAPHY .       .  vii 

PART  I 

CHAPTER 

I.    EDUCATION  UNDER  THE  DUTCH  REGIME 3 

II.    EDUCATION  UNDER  THE  ENGLISH  REGIME 10 

III.  EDUCATION  UNDER  THE  AUSPICES  OF  THE  SOCIETY  FOR  THE  PROP- 

AGATION OF  THE  GOSPEL 1 6 

IV.  EDUCATIONAL  MOVEMENTS  OF  THE  EARLY  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  21 
V.    ELEMENTARY-SCHOOL  BOOKS  OF  THE  EIGHTEENTH  CENTURY     .  26 

PART  II 

VI.    THE  RISING  CONSCIOUSNESS  OF  SECTARIANISM  IN  EDUCATION    .  39 

VII.    THE  FINAL  LEGAL  STATUS  OF  SECTARIAN  INSTRUCTION       .       .  48 

VIII.    THE  RELIGIOUS    CONCEPTION  OF  EDUCATION  IN  PROCESS  OF 

MODIFICATION 63 

IX.    THE  READING  OF  THE  BIBLE  IN  THE  PUBLIC  SCHOOLS       .       .  73 

X.    THE  PHILOSOPHIC  ASPECTS  OF  THE  QUESTION       ....  95 


BIBLIOGRAPHY 
I.    REFERENCES  TO  ORIGINAL  MATERIAL 

Albany  Records.  Consulted  for  this  thesis  only  as  quoted  in  Pratt 's  Annals. 
An  Honest  Appeal  to  Every  Voter.  Pamphlet,  Public  Library,  New  York  City. 
Arguments,  Points,  and  Amendments  of  N.  G.  Green  to  Proposed  Education  Law 

before  New  York  Legislature,  1899,  on  behalf  of  Catholic  interests  of  the 

State  of  New  York. 

Barnard,  American  Journal  of  Education. 
Brinsly,  Ludus  Liter arius. 
Clews,  Elsie,  Educational  Legislation  and  Administration  of  the  Colonial  Govern- 

ments. 

Coote,  English  School-Master. 
Debate  on  Amendment  re  Religious  Instruction  in  Free  Schools  and  Charitable 

Institutions.    Revised  Record  of  Constitutional  Convention,  1894,  V,  3, 

959-86. 
Decision  of  the  State  Superintendent  of  Common  Schools  on  the  Right  to  Compel 

Catholic  Children  to  Attend  Prayers,  etc.    Pamphlet,  Public  Library,  New 

York  City. 

Dil worth's  Speller,  ed.  1771. 
Evans,  American  Bibliography. 

Fernow,  Berthold,  Records  of  New  Amsterdam  from  1653-1674. 
Hasse,  Index  to  Documents  of  the  State  of  New  York. 
Hastings,  Ecclesiastical  Records  of  New  York. 
Hoole,  "The  New  Discovery  of  the  Old  Art  of  Teaching,"  Barnard's  Journal  t 

V,  17. 
Laws  of  the  State  of  New  York,  especially  for  the  years  1842,  1843,  1844,  1851, 

1871,  1897,  1901. 

Memorials,  Petitions,  Pamphlets,  Speeches,  etc. 
Minutes  of  Common  Council  of  City  of  New  York. 
New  England  Primer,  reprint  of  ed.  1777. 
New  York  City:   Report  of  the  Commissioners  of  the  Public  School  Money  for 

1841.    Pamphlet,  Public  Library,  New  York  City. 
New  York  City:  Report  of  the  Committee  ....  Relative  to  the  Use  of  the  Bible 

in  the  Public  Schools  of  the  City.    Pamphlet,  Public  Library,  New  York 

City. 
O'Callaghan,  E.  B.,  Documents  Relative  to  the  Colonial  History  of  the  State  of 

New  York,  Procured  by  J.  R.  Brodhead. 

,  Laws  and  Ordinances  of  New  Netherland.     1638-74. 

,  Register  of  New  Netherland.     1626-74. 

vii 


Vlll  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Pettis,  S.,  An  Address  from  an  Instructor  to  His  Scholars;   Pronounced  at 

Woodstock,  April  14, 1804. 

Pratt,  Annals  of  Public  Education  in  the  State  of  New  York  from  1626-1746. 
Preston,  "What  the  Catholics  Want,"  Forum,  V,  i. 
Proceedings  of  the  Board  of  Aldermen,  New  York  City. 
Proceedings  of  the  Board  of  Assistants,  New  York  City. 
Public  School  Society — Annual  Reports. 
Records  of  New  Amsterdam,  1653-1674. 
Report  on  Petition  of  Certain  Roman  Catholics  of  New  York,  Utica,  Syracuse, 

etc.,  re  Instruction  of  Their  Children,  Assembly  Document  97,  1853, 

V,4- 

Reports  of  State  Superintendent  of  Public  Instruction. 
Savage,  J.  W.,  Remarks  in  Assembly,  April  5,  1854,  upon  the  Bill  "Amending 

the  Common  School  Law"  so  That  No  Part  of  the  Common  School  Fund  Shall 

Be  Appropriated  to  the  Support   of  Sectarian  Schools,  etc.    Pamphlet, 

Public  Library,  New  York  City. 
The  Legislature  of  New  York  Hoodwinked  by  the  Romanists.     1858.    Pamphlet, 

Public  Library,  New  York  City. 

Van  Laer,  A.  J.  F.,  New  York.     Van  Rensselaer  Bowier  Manuscripts. 
Walsh,    "Religious   Education   in    the   Public   Schools  of  Massachusetts/' 

American  Catholic  Quarterly  Review,  V,  29. 

II.    REFERENCES  TO  SECONDARY  MATERIAL 

Brodhead,  J.  R.,  History  of  the  State  of  New  York.    First  Period  1609-64. 
"Bible  Reading  in  the  Public  Schools  in  the  United  States,"  Report  of  U.S. 

Commissioner  of  Education  1897-98,  V,  II,  p.  1539. 
Bluntschli,  Theory  of  the  State. 
Bolton,  History  of  the  Church  in  Westchester  County. 
Bourne,  History  of  the  Public  School  Society. 
Brown,  E.  E.,  The  Making  of  Our  Middle  Schools. 
Bushnell,  H.,  Common  Schools;  Discourse  on  the  Modifications  Demanded  by  the 

Roman  Catholics.     1853. 

Butler,  N.  M.,  "Religious  Instruction  and  Its  Relation  to  Education,"  Educa- 
tional Review,  V,  18,  p.  425. 
Butler,  Nathaniel,  "The  Moral  and  Religious  Element  in  Education,"  Religious 

Education,  V,  I,  pp.  88  f . 
Central  Conference  of  American  Rabbis.     Why  the  Bible  Should  Not  Be  Read 

in  the  Public  Schools.    New  York,  1906,  Bloch  Publishing  Co. 
Cheever,  G.  B.,  Right  of  the  Bible  in  Our  Public  Schools.     1854. 
Clark,  R.  W.,  The  Question  of  the  Hour:  the  Bible  and  the  School  Fund.     1870. 
Coe,  G.  A.,  "Moral  and  Religious  Education  from  the  Psychological  Point  of 

View,"  Religious  Education,  V,  III,  pp.  165  f. 
Colwell,  S.,  The  Position  of  Christianity  in  the  U.S.,  in  Its  Relations  with  Our 

Political  Institutions,  etc.     1854. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY  IX 

» 

Cooley,  Constitutional  Limitations,  2d  ed. 

Crocker,  J.  H.,  "Moral  and  Religious  Instruction  in  our  Public  Schools," 

Problems  in  American  Society.     1889. 
De  Garmo,  "Present  Status  of  Religious  Instruction  in  England,  France, 

Germany,  and  the  United  States,"  Christian  Knowledge  Lectures.     1900. 
Dorchester,  D.,  Romanism  versus  the  Public  School  System.     1888. 
Dunshee,  History  of  the  School  of  the  Reformed  Protestant  Dutch  Church  in  the 

City  of  New  York. 
Durant,  H.  F.,  Defence  of  the  Use  of  the  Bible  in  the  Common  Schools,  etc. 

1859. 
Button,  S.  T.,  "Religious  and  Ethical  Influences  of  the  Public  School," 

Religious  Education,  V,  I,  pp.  47  f . 
Earle,  Child  Life  in  Colonial  Days. 
Eggleston,  The  Transit  of  Civilization. 
Fisher,  G.  P.,  "Cardinal  Manning  and  Public  Schools,"  Forum,  V,  VII,  pp. 

119  f. 
Fitch,  C.  E.,  The  Public  School.    History  of  Common  School  Education  in  New 

York  from  1633-1904. 
Ford,  The  New  England  Primer. 

Gibbons,  J.,  Cardinal,  and  others,  "Two  Sides  of  the  School  Question,"  Pro- 
ceedings of  N.E.A.,  1889,  pp.  inf. 
Hawks,  F.  L.,  Contributions  to  the  Ecclesiastical  History  of  the  United  States  of 

America. 
Hecker,  "Catholics  and  Protestants  Agreeing  on  the  School  Question,"  Catholic 

World,  February,  1881. 

Henry,  J.,  An  Address  upon  Education  and  Common  Schools,  Delivered  at  Coopers- 
town,  Ostego  Co.,  September  21,  1843.    Public  Library,  New  York  City. 
Humphreys,  Gospel  in  North  America. 
Hurlbut,  E.  P.,  A  Secular  View  of  Religion  in  the  State,  and  the  Bible  in  the 

Public  Schools.     1870. 

Johnson,  Old-Time  Schools  and  School-Books. 
Littlefield,  Early  Schools  and  School-Books  of  New  England. 
MacQuary,  H.,  "The  Bible  in  the  Public  Schools,"  in  his  Topics  of  the  Times. 

1891. 
Manning,  Cardinal,  "The  Bible  in  the  Public  Schools,"  Forum,  V,  VIII,  pp. 

52  f. 
Mayo,  A.  D.,  What  Does  the  Bible  Represent  in  the  American  Common  School? 

1874. 

Mayo,  A.  D.,  and  Vickers,  T.,  The  Bible  in  the  Public  Schools,  ist  ed.  1870. 
Mead,  E.  A.,  The  Function  of  the  Public  Schools  in  the  Scheme  of  Human  Welfare. 
Meriwether,  Our  Colonial  Curriculum. 

Mott,  T.  A.,  "The  Church  and  the  Public  School,"  Proceedings  ofN.E.A.,  1901. 
O'Callaghan,  Laws  and  Ordinances  of  New  Netherland.     1638-74. 
,  History  of  New  Netherland. 


X  BIBLIOGRAPHY 

Palmer,  A.  E.,  The  New  York  Public  School. 

Pattern,  W.  W.,  Purely  Secular  Public  Schools;  Address  on  the  Bible  and  Public 

Schools,  September  24,  1876. 
Politics  and  the  School  Question;   Attitude  of  the  Republican  and  Democratic 

Parties.     1876. 

Prince,  J.  F.,  "The  Bible  in  Education,"  Educational  Review,  1898. 
Randall,  History  of  the  Common  School  System  of  the  State  of  New  York. 
Spear,  S.  T.,  Religion  and  the  State,  or,  The  Bible  and  the  Public  Schools. 
Strong,  Josiah,  Religion  and  the  Public  Schools.    Pamphlet,  Congregational 

Sunday  School  Publishing  Society. 
Strong,  T.  M.,  The  History  of  the  Town  of  Flatbush. 
"The  Bible  in  the  Schools,"  The  Nation,  November  18,  1869;  January  6,  1870; 

February  17,  1870. 

Thiry,  J.  H.,  History  of  the  Early  Schools  in  Long  Island.     1904. 
Thomson,  J.  P.,  Shall  Our  Common  Schools  Be  Destroyed?     1870.    Pamphlet, 

Public  Library,  New  York  City. 
Tuer,  History  of  the  Horn-Book. 
Tufts,  J.  H.,  "Moral  Training  in  the  Public  Schools,"  Religious  Education,  V, 

III,  pp.  1251. 
Ullman,   D.,   Amendments  to  the  Constitution  of  the   United  States.     1876. 

Pamphlet,  Public  Library,  New  York  City. 

Van  Vechter,  E.,  Early  Schools  and  Schoolmasters  of  New  Amsterdam. 
Watson,  F.,  The  English  Grammar  Schools  to  1660:    Their  Curriculum  and 

Practice. 

Wilson,  R.  R.,  New  York;  Old  and  New.    Its  Story,  Streets,  and  Landmarks. 
Woolsey,  Political  Science. 

III.     STATE  SUPREME  COURT  DECISIONS  ON  BIBLE  READING  AND 
RELIGIOUS  EXERCISES  IN  THE  PUBLIC  SCHOOLS 

Maine  Decision.     1854.    Maine  Reports,  38,  pp.  379-413. 
Massachusetts  Decision.     1866.    Massachusetts  Reports,  12  Allen,  127. 
Ohio  Decision.     1872.    Ohio  Reports,  23,  pp.  211-54. 
Iowa  Decision.     1884.    Iowa  Reports,  54,  pp.  367-70. 
Wisconsin  Decision.     1890.     Wisconsin  Reports,  76,  pp.  177-221. 
Michigan  Decision.     1898.    M ichigan  Reports,  118,  pp.  560-95. 
Nebraska  Decision.     1902.    Nebraska  Reports,  65,  pp.  853-85. 
Kansas  Decision.     1904.    Kansas  Reports,  69,  pp.  53-58. 
Kentucky  Decision.     1905.    Kentucky  Reports,  120,  pp.  608-31. 
Texas  Decision.     1908.    L.R.A.  (N.S.),  8960;  109  S.  W.  Reports,  115. 
Illinois  Decision.     1910.    Illinois  Reports,  245,  pp.  334-78;  cf.  93  111.  61;  95 
111.  263;  137  111.  296;   121  111.  297. 


PART  I 

RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION  INCORPORATED  IN  THE  SCHOOLS 


CHAPTER  I 
EDUCATION  UNDER  THE  DUTCH  RfiGIME 

There  can  be  no  reason  to  suppose  that  the  conception  of  education 
entertained  by  the  Dutch  colonists  in  New  Netherland  was  any  different 
from  that  which  prevailed  in  the  Fatherland.  The  country  alone  was 
new;  the  people  and  their  modes  of  thinking  still  belonged  to  the  old 
world.  The  founders  of  New  Amsterdam  had  brought  with  them  the 
institutions  of  their  native  land.  We  are  justified  therefore  in  going 
back  to  Holland  for  our  introduction  to  Dutch  education  in  America. 
Only  a  few  years  before  the  colonists  inaugurated  their  first  school  the 
Synod' of  Dort,  held  in  1618-19,  nad  given  expression  to  the  settled  con- 
viction of  the  Dutch  mind  respecting  the  education  of  youth,  an  opinion 
which  had  been  slowly  maturing  since  the  beginning  of  the  Reformation. 
One  of  the  resolutions  on  this  subject,  passed  November  30,  1618,  reads 
as  follows:  "Schools,  in  which  the  young  shall  be  properly  instructed  in 
the  principles  of  Christian  doctrine  shall  be  instituted  not  only  in  cities, 
but  also  in  towns  and  country  places  where  heretofore  none  have  existed. 
The  Christian  magistracy  shall  be  requested  that  well-qualified  persons 
may  be  employed  and  enabled  to  devote  themselves  to  the  service;  and 
especially  that  the  children  of  the  poor  may  be  gratuitously  instructed, 
and  not  be  excluded  from  the  benefit  of  the  schools.  In  this  office  none 
shall  be  employed  but  such  as  are  members  of  the  Reformed  church, 
having  certificates  of  an  upright  faith  and  pious  life,  and  of  being  well 
versed  in  the  truths  of  the  Catechism.  They  are  to  sign  a  document, 
professing  their  belief  in  the  Confession  of  Faith  and  the  Heidelberg 
Catechism,  and  promising  that  they  will  give  catechetical  instruction  to 
the  youth  in  the  principles  of  Christian  truth  according  to  the  same. 
The  schoolmasters  shall  instruct  their  scholars  according  to  their  age  and 
capacity,  at  least  two  days  in  the  week,  not  only  by  causing  them  to 
commit  to  memory,  but  also  by  instilling  in  their  minds  an  acquaintance 

with  the  truths  of  the  Catechism The  schoolmasters  shall  take 

care  not  only  that  the  scholars  commit  these  catechisms  to  memory,  but 
that  they  suitably  understand  the  doctrines  contained  in  them.  For 
this  purpose,  they  shall  suitably  explain  to  everyone,  in  a  manner 
adapted  to  his  capacity,  and  frequently  inquire  if  they  understand  them. 
The  schoolmasters  shall  bring  every  one  of  the  pupils  committed  to  their 

3 


4  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION  IN  NEW  YORK  PUBLIC   SCHOOLS 

charge  to  the  hearing  of  the  preached  Word,  and  particularly  the  preach- 
ing on  the  Catechism,  and  require  from  them  an  account  of  the  same" 
(quoted  in  Dunshee,  2d  ed.,  p.  4.  For  full  titles  of  sources  see  special 
bibliography). 

The  Synod  of  Dort,  whose  Canons  were  everywhere  accepted  by  the 
Dutch  people  as  one  of  the  symbols  of  their  faith,  thus  provided  for  the 
religious  education  of  children  and  youth.  Religion  and  education  were 
considered  inseparable.  "The  principles  of  Christian  doctrine"  were  to 
be  an  essential  and  indispensable  part  of  the  subject-matter  of  instruc- 
tion. We  shall  now  proceed  to  show  how  this  conception  of  education 
was  brought  over  into  the  new  world  and  incorporated  in  the  schools  set 
up  by  the  Dutch  in  the  colony  of  New  Netherland.  The  accessible  data 
on  this  topic  fall  into  two  general  classes:  the  religious  motive  in  educa- 
tion, and  religious  material  in  education. 

The  motive  that  actuated  the  Dutch  colonists  may  be  seen,  first,  in 
the  stipulations  of  official  documents.  In  the  charter  of  freedoms  and 
exemptions  granted  by  the  West  India  Company,  June  7,  1629,  to  all 
patroons,  masters,  or  private  persons  who  should  plant  colonies  in  New 
Netherland,  the  following  condition  is  specified:  "The  Patroons  and 
colonists  shall  in  particular,  and  in  the  speediest  manner,  endeavor  to 
find  out  ways  and  means  whereby  they  may  supply  a  minister  and  school- 
master, that  thus  the  service  of  God  and  zeal  for  religion  may  not  grow 
cool  and  be  neglected  among  them"  (N.Y.  Col.  Doc.,  II,  557).  With  a 
few  verbal  changes  the  same  decree  was  re-enacted  in  the  freedoms  and 
exemptions  of  1630  (N.Y.,  Col.  Doc.  I,  99). 

In  consequence  of  disagreement  between  the  Nine  Men  and  the 
Director,  in  1649,  the  former  presented  a  memorial  and  remonstrance  to 
the  States-General  of  Holland,  setting  forth  "the  reasons  and  cause  of 
the  great  decay  of  New  Netherland,"  and  "in  what  manner  New  Nether- 
land should  be  relieved."  Under  the  latter  head  is  found  the  following 
complaint:  "There  ought  to  be  also  a  public  school  provided  with  at 
least  two  good  teachers,  so  that  the  youth,  in  so  wild  a  country,  where 
there  are  so  many  dissolute  people,  may,  first  of  all,  be  well  instructed 
and  indoctrinated  not  only  in  reading  and  writing,  but  also  in  the 
knowledge  and  fear  of  the  Lord"  (N.Y.  Col.  Doc.,  I,  317). 

The  religious  motive  in  education  is  also  seen  in  a  civil  ordinance 
relative  to  the  public  catechizing  of  the  children  in  the  church,  passed  by 
the  Director-General  and  Council,  March  17,  1664:  "Whereas,  it  is 
highly  necessary  and  of  great  consequence  that  the  youth,  from  their 
childhood,  is  well  instructed  in  reading,  writing  and  arithmetic,  and 


EDUCATION  UNDER  THE  DUTCH  REGIME  5 

principally  in  the  principles  and  fundaments  of  the  Christian  religion 
....  so  that  in  time  such  men  may  arise  from  it,  who  may  be  able  to 
serve  their  country  in  Church  or  in  State  ....  they  [Director-General 
and  Council]  have  deemed  it  necessary  to  recommend  the  present  school- 
master, and  to  command  him,  so  as  it  is  done  by  this,  that  they  (Pietersen, 
the  Principal,  and  Van  Hoboecken,  of  the  branch  school  on  the  Bouwery) 
on  Wednesday,  before  the  beginning  of  the  sermon,  with  the  children 
intrusted  to  their  care,  shall  appear  in  the  Church  to  examine,  after  the 
close  of  the  sermon,  each  of  them  his  own  scholars,  in  the  presence  of  the 
reverend  ministers  and  elders  who  may  there  be  present,  what  they,  in 
the  course  of  the  week,  do  remember  of  the  Christian  commands  and 
catechism,  and  what  progress  they  have  made"  (O'CalL,  Laws  of  N.N., 
461;  Dunshee,  p.  30). 

In  the  next  place,  the  religious  motive  in  education  is  seen  in  the 
requirement  that  all  teachers  be  licensed  by  the  civil  and  ecclesiastical 
authorities  (Pratt 's  Ann.,  p.  69).  In  support  of  this  proposition  are 
offered  the  following  extracts  from  the  original  records: 

"  On  motion — the  Attorney-General  is  commanded,  to  go  to  the  house  of 
Jacob  Van  Gorier  [Corlear],  who  has,  since  some  time,  arrogated  to  him- 
self to  keep  school,  and  to  warn  him  that  Director-General  and  Council 
have  deemed  it  proper  to  send  him  a  super sedeas  till  he  shall  have  solicited 
and  obtained  from  the  Director-General  and  Council  an  act  in  propria 
forma.  19  February,  1658"  (Alb.  Rec.,  XIV,  114;  quoted  in  Pratt's 
Ann.,  p.  19). 

"In  Council,  19  March,  1658 

"  Presented  a  petition  of  burgomasters  and  schepens  of  this  city, 
soliciting,  that  Jacob  Van  Corlear,  who,  on  the  19  February  last,  was 
interdicted  by  the  Director-General  and  Council  to  keep  school,  might 
be  permitted  it  in  the  city.  The  apostil  was — 

"School-keeping  and  the  appointment  of  schoolmasters  depend 
absolutely  from  the  jus  Patronatus  in  virtue  of  which  Director-General 
and  Council  interdicted  school-keeping  to  Jacob  Van  Corlear,  as  having 
arrogated  it  to  himself  without  their  orders,  in  which  resolution  they  do 
as  yet  persist"  (Alb.  Rec.,  XIV,  151;  quoted  in  Pratt's  Ann.,  p.  20). 

"Andreas  Hudde  appeared  before  the  Director- General  and  Council, 
and  solicited  a  license  to  keep  school,  received  for  answer  that  the  Council 
shall  ask  upon  his  proposal  the  opinion  of  the  Minister  and  the  Consis- 
tory. Done  in  New  Amsterdam,  31  December,  1665"  (Alb.  Rec.,  IX, 
309;  quoted  in  Pratt's  Ann.,  p.  19). 


6  RELIGIOUS   EDUCATION  IN  NEW  YORK  PUBLIC   SCHOOLS 

After  the  capitulation  of  New  Amsterdam  the  government  of  the 
province  passed  into  the  hands  of  the  English.  The  Dutch  people, 
however,  still  remained  in  the  country  and  kept  up  their  church  and 
their  school.  By  the  articles  of  capitulation  they  were  allowed  "the 
liberty  of  their  consciences  in  divine  worship  and  church  discipline,  with 
all  their  accustomed  jurisdiction  with  respect  to  the  poor  and  orphans" 
(O'CalL,  Hist.  N.N.,  II,  533).  This  privilege  was  ratified  by  William 
III  (charter  of  incorporation  of  the  Dutch  church,  1696),  with  the  plain 
specification  that  the  minister  and  deacons  should  have  the  right  to 
nominate  and  appoint  a  schoolmaster  and  such  other  officers  as  might  be 
needed  by  the  congregation  over  which  they  presided  (Dunshee,  p.  37). 
Notwithstanding,  the  English  governors  attempted  to  assert  their 
authority  and  to  prevent  any  Dutch  minister  or  schoolmaster  from 
exercising  his  calling  "without  a  special  gubernatorial  license"  (Dunshee, 
p.  37).  Lord  Cornbury  succeeded  in  breaking  up  the  Dutch  schools  on 
Long  Island,  and,  with  like  intent,  proceeded  against  the  school  of  the 
Dutch  church  in  New  York  City.  But  this  was  a  strong  and  influential 
congregation,  and  so  the  Governor's  attempt  was  stoutly  and  success- 
fully resisted.  The  subsequent  minutes  bearing  on  the  subject  are 
lacking,  until  January  5,  1726.  At  that  time  the  Consistory  engaged 
Barent  de  Foreest  to  give  "instruction  not  only  in  the  Low  Dutch 
language,  but  also  in  the  elements  of  Christian  piety"  (Dunshee,  p.  38). 
The  contention  of  the  Dutch  for  the  right  to  appoint  their  own  school- 
masters can  be  assigned  probably  to  no  other  reason  than  their  unwill- 
ingness to  have  their  children  brought  under  the  influence  of  the  Church 
of  England,  and  their  settled  determination  to  have  them  indoctrinated 
in  the  principles  of  the  Reformed  faith.  This  no  doubt  explains  the 
requirement  under  the  Dutch  regime  that  all  schoolmasters  be  licensed 
by  the  civil  and  ecclesiastical  authorities. 

Again,  the  religious  motive  in  education  is  seen  in  the  character  and 
qualifications  demanded  of  schoolmasters.  Director  Stuyvesant  wrote 
to  the  Classis  of  Amsterdam  "for  a  pious,  well-qualified  and  diligent 
schoolmaster."  In  response  to  this  request  the  Directors  of  the  West 
India  Company  wrote,  February  16, 1650:  "We  appoint,  at  your  request, 
a  schoolmaster,  who  shall  also  act  as  comforter  for  the  sick.  He  is  con- 
sidered an  honest  and  pious  man,  and  shall  embark  at  the  first  oppor- 
tunity." On  April  15  of  the  same  year  the  Directors  wrote:  "The 
schoolmaster  for  whom  you  solicited  comes  in  the  same  vessel  with  this 
letter.  The  Lord  grant  that  he  may  for  a  long  time  exemplify  the 
favorable  testimony  which  he  carried  with  him  from  here,  to  the 


EDUCATION   UNDER   THE  DUTCH  REGIME  7 

edification  of  the  youth"  (Alb.  Rec.,  IV,  23,  30;  quoted  in  Pratt's 
Ann.,  p.  10). 

From  a  letter  by  the  Directors  of  the  West  India  Company  to  Peter 
Stuyvesant,  May  2,  1661,  announcing  the  appointment  of  Evert  Pieter- 
sen  schoolmaster  in  New  Amsterdam,  is  taken  the  following  extract: 
"  Whereas,  we  have  deemed  it  necessary  to  promote  religious  worship, 
and  to  read  to  the  inhabitants  the  word  of  God,  to  exhort  them,  to  lead 
them  in  the  ways  of  the  Lord,  and  console  the  sick,  that  an  expert  person 
was  sent  to  New  Netherland,  in  the  city  of  New  Amsterdam,  who  at  the 
same  tune  should  act  there  as  chorister  and  schoolmaster;  so  it  is,  that 
we,  upon  the  good  report  which  we  have  received  about  the  person  of 
Evert  Pietersen,  and  confiding  in  his  abilities  and  experience  in  the 
aforesaid  services,  together  on  his  pious  character  and  virtues,  have,  on 
your  Honor's  recommendation,  and  that  of  the  magistrates  of  the  city  of 
New  Amsterdam,  appointed  the  aforesaid  person  as  consoler  of  the  sick, 
chorister  and  schoolmaster,  at  New  Amsterdam,  in  New  Netherland, 
which  charge  he  shall  fulfil  there,  and  conduct  himself  in  these  with  all 
diligence  and  faithfulness;  also  we  expect  that  he  shall  give  others  a 
good  example,  so  as  it  becomes  a  pious  and  good  consoler,  clerk,  chorister 
and  schoolmaster"  (Alb.  Rec.,  VIII,  321;  quoted  in  Pratt's  Ann.,  p.  18). 
Besides  bringing  into  prominence  the  "pious  character  and  virtues"  of 
the  said  Evert  Pietersen  as  a  condition  of  his  appointment  to  the  school 
in  New  Amsterdam  the  foregoing  extract  enumerates  the  other  offices 
with  which  the  schoolmaster  of  that  period  was  almost  uniformly 
burdened,  all  of  which  in  their  turn  required  that  he  be  a  man  of  religious 
disposition.  It  was  demanded  of  the  schoolmaster  that  he  be  a  man  of 
pious  character  because  it  was  deemed  "necessary  to  promote  religious 
worship,  and  to  read  to  the  inhabitants  the  word  of  God,"  etc. 

Religious  material  in  education  finds  abundant  illustration  in  the 
subject-matter  of  instruction.  The  following  extracts  are  offered  in 
support  of  this  proposition: 

Articles  of  agreement  with  Johannes  Van  Eckkelen,  accepted  school- 
master and  chorister  of  Flatbush,  1682:  "II.  When  the  school  begins,  one 
of  the  children  shall  read  the  morning  prayer,  as  it  stands  in  the  cate- 
chism, and  close  with  the  prayer  before  dinner;  in  the  afternoon  it  shall 
begin  with  the  prayer  after  dinner,  and  end  with  the  evening  prayer. 
The  evening  school  shall  begin  with  the  Lord's  Prayer,  and  close  by 
singing  a  psalm. 

"III.  He  shall  instruct  the  children  on  every  Wednesday  and  Satur- 
day in  the  common  prayers,  and  the  questions  and  answers  in  the  cate- 


8  RELIGIOUS   EDUCATION   IN   NEW  YORK  PUBLIC   SCHOOLS 

chism,  to  enable  them  to  repeat  them  the  better  on  Sunday  before  the 
afternoon  service,  or  on  Monday,  when  they  shall  be  catechized  before 
the  congregation"  (Strong's  History  of  Flatbush,  p.  in).  Practically 
this  same  agreement  was  made  nearly  one  hundred  years  later,  1773,  by 
the  town  of  Flatbush  with  one  Anthony  Welp  (Strong's  History  of 
Flatbush,  p.  115). 

In  January,  1726,  Barent  de  Foreest  was  engaged  schoolmaster  for 
the  Collegiate  Dutch  Church,  New  York  City.  By  agreement  "the 
school  was  to  be  opened  and  closed  with  prayer  and  singing,  and  the 
children,  according  to  their  capacity,  were  to  be  taught  to  spell  and  read 
and  write  and  cipher,  and  also  the  usual  prayers  in  the  catechism. 

"On  Saturday  morning  they  were  to  be  prepared  to  repeat  to  the 
minister  the  Lord's-Day  portion  in  the  catechism,  which  was  to  be 
subject  of  discourse  the  following  day,  so  as  to  be  able  to  recite  it  in 
the  church. 

"Every  Monday  the  scholars  were  to  be  publicly  catechized — and 
on  Wednesdays,  when  there  was  preaching,  he  and  the  scholars  were  to 
come  to  church  in  a  body. 


"None  but  edifying  and  orthodox  textbooks  were  to  be  used,  such  as 
would  meet  with  the  approbation  of  the  Reverend  Consistory"  (Dun- 
shee,  p.  39). 

In  1733,  Gerrit  Van  Wagenen  became  the  successor  to  Barent  de 
Foreest.  By  the  terms  of  agreement  he  was  required  to  teach  "the 
principles  of  the  true  Reformed  religion,"  "the  usual  prayers  and  the 
Heidelberg  Catechism"  (Dunshee,  p.  43). 

In  1810,  James  Forester  entered  upon  his  duties  as  master  of  the 
school  of  the  Collegiate  Church.  He  was  to  teach  among  other  things 
reading  in  the  New  Testament,  the  Old  Testament,  and  the  Heidelberg 
Catechism  (Dunshee,  p.  71). 

Henry  Onderdonk,  Jr.,  a  New  York  historian  of  the  first  half  of  the 
nineteenth  century,  describes  the  Dutch  primers  as  follows:  "Religion 
was  the  leading  idea  in  Dutch  teaching.  I  have  a  Dutch  Primer,  or 
A.B.C.  Book,  as  it  is  called  (Amsterdam),  similar  to  our  New  England 
Primer.  It  has  a  large  rooster  on  one  page,  and  a  picture  of  a  Dutch 
school  on  the  other.  The  master  has  a  cap  on  his  head  and  a  bunch  of 
twigs  in  his  hand.  The  class  stands  before  him  and  the  other  boys  are 
seated  at  their  desks.  After  a  very  little  spelling,  succeeds  the  Lord's 
Prayer,  Creed,  Decalogue,  Morning  and  Evening  Prayer,  Grace  before 


EDUCATION  UNDER  THE  DUTCH  REGIME  9 

and  after  meat.  The  instruction  is  altogether  religious,  which  feature 
(I  suppose)  is  retained  in  our  Catholic  schools  to  this  day"  (Pratt's 
Ann.,  p.  117). 

The  religious  element  in  Dutch  education  is  therefore  clearly  seen,  on 
the  side  of  motive,  in  the  stipulations  of  official  documents,  in  the 
licensing  of  schoolmasters,  and  in  the  character  and  qualifications 
demanded  of  teachers;  on  the  side  of  material,  it  finds  sufficient  and 
conclusive  illustration  in  the  subject-matter  of  instruction. 


CHAPTER  II 
EDUCATION  UNDER  THE  ENGLISH  REGIME 

The  English  people  had  known  no  other  kind  of  education  than 
religious.  Prior  to  the  Reformation  education  was  by  the  church  and 
for  the  church.  The  Reformation,  so  far  as  concerns  education,  had 
merely  transferred  the  seat  of  authority  from  the  pope  and  his  bishops  to 
the  king  and  his  bishops.  The  school  became  one  of  the  strong  arms  of 
Protestantism  and  one  of  the  principal  means  of  popularizing  the  new 
propaganda. 

During  the  first  half  of  the  seventeenth  century  the  Bible  formed  the 
center  of  instruction.  By  the  more  advanced  pupils  it  was  to  be  read  in 
Greek  and  Hebrew,  as  well  as  in  English.  It  was  also  used  devotionally 
every  morning  at  the  opening,  and  every  afternoon  at  the  close,  of  school. 
Care  was  also  taken  to  instruct  the  children  in  the  doctrinal  grounds  of 
religion,  and  for  this  purpose  the  Catechism,  the  Creed,  the  Ten  Com- 
mandments, and  the  Lord's  Prayer  were  called  into  requisition  (Watson, 
The  English  Grammar  Schools  to  1660,  chaps,  i-iv). 

The  principal  pedagogical  writers  of  this  period  were  John  Brinsly 
and  Charles  Hoole.  They  may  be  relied  upon  to  represent  the  ideals,  as 
well  as  the  practice  of  the  best  sort  of  schoolmasters  of  their  time.  John 
Brinsly  wrote  his  Ludus  Liter  arius,  or  The  Grammar  School,  in  1612. 
According  to  the  title-page  (2d  ed.,  1627),  his  object  was  to  show  "how  to 
proceede  from  the  first  entrance  into  learning,  to  the  highest  perfection 
required  in  the  Grammar  Schools."  The  Psalms  in  Meter  is  recom- 
mended as  one  of  the  first  reading  books  for  children  (p.  17);  the  pupil 
should  not  be  allowed  to  enter  the  grammar  school  until  able  to  read 
perfectly  the  New  Testament  in  English  (p.  13);  and  a  knowledge  of 
Greek  and  Hebrew  is  strongly  commended,  because  it  will  enable  its 
possessor  to  read  the  Bible  in  the  original  (pp.  223,  244).  The  special 
fitness  of  the  New  Testament  as  an  introduction  to  the  Greek  language  is 
urged,  because  it  was  written  by  the  Lord  himself,  both  in  matter  and 
words,  and  because,  together  with  the  Old  Testament,  it  constitutes  the 
Book  of  books  and  gives  men  the  opportunity  of  seeing  with  their  own 
eyes  rather  than  to  rest  upon  the  assurances  of  others  (p.  226). 

Chap,  xxii  has  the  following  title:  "Of  knowledge  of  the  grounds  of 
Religion  and  training  up  the  schollers  therein."  The  first  paragraph 

10 


EDUCATION  UNDER  THE  ENGLISH  REGIME  n 

thus  sets  forth  the  author's  view:  "Now  that  we  have  thus  gone  thorow 
all  the  way  of  learning,  for  whatsoever  can  be  required  in  the  Grammar 
schooles;  and  how  to  lay  a  sure  foundation,  both  for  the  Greeke  and  the 
Hebrew,  that  they  may  be  able  to  go  on  of  themselves  in  all  these  by 
their  own  studies:  it  remaineth  that  we  come  yet  to  one  further  point, 
and  which  is  as  it  were  the  end  of  all  these.  That  is,  how  schollers  may 
be  seasoned  and  trained  up  in  Gods  true  Religion  and  in  grace;  without 
which  all  other  learning  is  meerely  vaine,  or  to  increase  a  greater  con- 
demnation. This  one  alone  doth  make  them  truely  blessed,  and  sanc- 
tifie  all  other  their  studies"  (p.  253). 

In  carrying  out  the  view  just  set  forth,  children  are  to  be  instructed 
in  "all  the  grounds  of  religion  and  chiefe  Histories  of  the  Bible,"  and  the 
substance,  doctrines,  proofs,  and  uses  of  the  sermons  (p.  253;  references 
from  ed.  of  1627). 

But  greater  still,  perhaps,  was  the  influence  of  Charles  Hoole  upon 
the  education  of  his  tune.  The  Usher's  Duty  and  The  New  Discovery  of 
the  Old  Art  of  Teaching  were  composed  by  him  in  1637,  and,  together  with 
a  little  pamphlet  on  The  Petty  Schools,  were  published  in  1659  (Barnard's 
Journal  of  Education,  XVII,  191;  entire  work  reprinted  in  vol.  XVII  of 
this  Journal). 

On  the  founding  of  "Petty  Schools,"  Hoole  says:  "The  Petty  School 
is  the  place  where,  indeed,  the  first  principles  of  all  religion  and  learning 
ought  to  be  taught"  (ibid.,  XVII,  204). 

Under  "How  a  child  may  be  taught  to  read  any  English  book  per- 
fectly," Hoole  says,  "in  order  to  hold  to  the  sure  foundation  of  religious 
instruction,  I  have  caused  the  Lord's  Prayer,  the  Creed,  and  the  Ten 
Commandments  to  be  printed  in  the  Roman  character,  that  a  child 
having  learned  already  to  know  his  letters  and  how  to  spell,  may  also  be 
initiated  to  read  by  them,  which  he  will  do  the  more  cheerfully  if  he  be 
also  instructed  at  home  to  say  them  by  heart"  (ibid.,  XVII,  202). 

The  whole  school  is  to  be  divided  into  four  forms,  or  grades.  The 
lessons  of  the  first  form  are  to  be  in  the  Primer.  The  second  form, 
learning  to  spell,  is  to  be  instructed  from  The  Single  Psalter.  The  third 
form,  learning  to  read,  has  its  lessons  in  the  Bible.  The  fourth  form  is 
to  be  instructed  from  such  "profitable  English  books"  as  may  be  sug- 
gested by  the  master  and  provided  by  the  parents  (ibid.,  XVII,  205). 

On  the  afternoons  of  Tuesdays  and  Thursdays,  and  on  Saturday 
mornings,  the  master  must  hear  his  pupils  recite  "the  graces,  prayers 
and  psalms,  and  especially  the  Lord's  Prayer,  the  Creed,  and  the  Ten 
Commandments  (which  are  for  that  purpose  set  down  hi  the  New 


12  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION  IN  NEW  YORK  PUBLIC   SCHOOLS 

Primer)  very  perfectly  by  heart."  When  these  have  been  mastered,  the 
pupils  may  proceed  to  other  catechisms,  but  they  must  be  "such  as  agree 
with  the  principles  of  Christian  religion"  (ibid.,  XVII,  206). 

Hoole  now  passes  on  to  discuss  education  in  the  higher  grades. 
When  children,  who  are  imperfect  in  reading  English,  are  brought  to  the 
grammar  school,  this  defect  may  be  overcome  by  having  them  read  a 
chapter  every  morning  and  noon  in  the  New  Testament.  Also  to  help 
their  memories  at  this  time  they  may  be  required  to  commit  parts  of 
such  psalms  as  the  master  thinks  suitable  to  their  "  shallow  apprehen- 
sions" (ibid.,  XVII,  225). 

Schools  of  the  fourth  form  come  under  the  instruction  of  the  master. 
In  the  lower  forms  the  pupils  have  been  under  the  usher.  The  master 
must  be  careful  to  keep,  as  well  as  diligent  to  add  to,  what  has  been 
acquired.  In  order  to  do  this,  "  Every  morning  read  six  to  ten  verses  (as 
formerly)  out  of  the  Latin  Testament  into  English,  that  thus  they  may 
become  well  acquainted  with  the  matter  and  words  of  that  most  Holy 
Book;  and  after  they  are  acquainted  with  the  Greek  Testament,  they 
may  proceed  with  it  in  like  manner"  (ibid.,  XVII,  267). 

The  fifth  and  sixth  forms  are  to  read  daily  a  dozen  verses  out  of  the 
Greek  Testament. 

The  section  on  "The  Master's  Method"  concludes  by  asking  the 
blessing  of  God  upon  the  teacher's  planting  and  watering  so  that  our 
young  plants  may  grow  up  in  "all  godliness  and  good  learning,  and 
abound  in  the  knowledge  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ,  whom  only  to  know 
is  eternal  life"  (ibid.,  XVII,  282). 

Chap,  vii  of  Scholastic  Discipline  has  the  following  title:  "Of  exer- 
cising scholars  in  the  Scriptures.  Of  using  daily  prayers  and  singing 
psalms.  Of  taking  notes  at  sermons,  and  examination  after  sermons." 

Besides  reading  part  of  a  Latin  or  Greek  chapter,  prescribed  in  all  the 
forms,  an  English  chapter  was  to  be  read  every  morning  and  night. 
This  exercise  was  to  be  performed  by  one  of  the  boys  and  followed  by 
the  others  in  their  English  or  Latin  Bibles.  After  the  reading  they  were 
to  sing  a  psalm  in  Latin,  then  repeat  the  admonitions  at  the  end  of 
Nowel's  Catechism,  concluding  the  whole  with  a  prayer. 

It  is  recommended  that  the  master  meet  his  pupils  at  school  every 
Lord's  day  in  the  morning  about  an  hour  before  church  time,  and  instruct 
them  in  the  doctrines  of  the  catechism,  and,  after  a  psalm  sung  and 
prayer  said,  attend  them  to  church.  After  the  sermon  they  are  to 
return  to  the  school  again,  when  the  pupils  are  to  be  questioned  on  what 
they  have  heard  of  the  sermon.  The  day's  exercise  is  to  be  concluded 


EDUCATION  UNDER  THE  ENGLISH  REGIME  13 

"with  the  singing  of  a  psalm  and  devout  prayers,  and  charging  your 
scholars  to  spend  the  rest  of  the  time  in  reading  the  Scriptures  and  such 
religious  books  as  tend  to  their  further  profiting  in  Christian  piety" 
(ibid.,  XVII,  309). 

This  is  the  educational  atmosphere  from  which  the  English  colonists 
migrated  and  which  was  destined  to  give  life  and  form  to  their  system  of 
instruction  in  the  new  world.  So  much  space  has  been  given  to  the 
situation  in  England,  because  only  in  this  way  can  we  understand  the 
educational  procedure  in  English  colonial  New  York.  And  this  is  all 
the  more  true,  since,  on  this  latter  subject,  there  is  great  paucity  of 
material.  But  such  data  as  may  be  found  will  amply  justify  our  expec- 
tations, as  I  shall  now  proceed  to  show. 

The  religious  character  of  education  in  the  colony  of  New  York  after 
the  establishment  of  English  supremacy  and  under  the  influence  of  the 
English  ideal  may  be  seen  first  of  all  in  the  custom  of  licensing  school- 
masters. The  instructions  to  Governor  Dongan,  given  at  Windsor, 
May  29,  1686,  contained  the  following  regulation:  "And  wee  doe 
further  direct  that  noe  Schoolmaster  bee  henceforth  permitted  to  come 
from  England  and  to  keep  school  within  Our  Province  of  New  York, 
without  the  license  of  the  said  Archbishop  of  Canterbury;  and  that  noe 
other  person  now  there  or  that  shall  come  from  other  parts,  bee  admitted 
to  keep  school  without  your  license  first  had"  (N.Y.  Col.  Doc.,  Ill,  372). 
With  the  substitution  of  the  Bishop  of  London  for  the  Archbishop  of 
Canterbury  this  same  direction  is  given  to  Governor  Henry  Sloughter, 
January  31,  1689  (ibid.,  688);  to  Governor  Fletcher,  March  7,  1691-92 
(ibid.,  821);  to  Governor  Bellemont,  August  31,  1697  (ibid.,  IV,  288); 
and  to  Governor  Hunter,  December  27,  1709  (ibid.,  V,  135). 

The  meaning  of  this  license  is  altogether  unequivocal.  Each  of  the 
instructions  referred  to  above  contains  a  clause  like  the  following:  "You 
shall  take  especial  care  that  God  Almighty  be  devoutly  and  duly  served 
throughout  your  Government,  the  Book  of  Common  Prayer  as  it  is  now 
established  read  each  Sunday  &  Holy-day  and  the  blessed  Sacrament 
administered  according  to  the  Rites  of  the  Church  of  England,  You  shall 
be  carefull  that  the  Churches  already  built  there  be  well  and  orderly  kept 
and  more  built  as  the  Colony  shall  by  God's  blessing  be  improved  and 
that  besides  a  competent  Maintenance  to  be  assigned  to  the  Minister  of 
each  Orthodox  Church  a  convenient  house  be  built  at  the  Common 
Charge  for  each  Minister  and  a  competent  proporcion  of  land  assigned 
him  for  a  Glebe  and  exercise  of  his  Industry"  (ibid.,  Ill,  821;  see  also 
each  of  the  references  above). 


14  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION  IN  NEW  YORK  PUBLIC   SCHOOLS 

It  is  therefore  without  question  that  the  government  intended  to 
reduce  the  religious  practices  of  the  colony  to  conformity  with  the  Church 
of  England,  and  that  the  schoolmaster  was  to  be  a  means  to  that  end. 
Education  was  to  be  indoctrination. 

However,  this  regulation  fell  into  disuse  during  the  administration  of 
Governor  Hunter.  The  last  license  of  which  there  seems  to  be  any 
record  was  issued  by  him  to  Allane  Jarratt,  1712.  A  bill  to  revive  the 
custom  was  introduced  into  the  legislature,  1745,  but  found  its  quietus 
in  the  Committee  of  the  Whole  (Pratt's  Ann.,  p.  142).  But  in  the 
eighteenth  century,  as  will  be  shown  in  the  next  chapter,  the  Society  for 
the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel  took  the  initiative  which  had  been  exer- 
cised by  the  legislature,  and  education  in  the  colony  became  dominated 
by  the  English  ideal  as  it  had  not  been  hitherto. 

Again,  the  religious  character  of  education  in  English  colonial  New 
York  finds  further  confirmation  in  the  character  and  qualifications 
demanded  of  schoolmasters.  There  is  not  a  great  deal  of  information 
to  be  found  on  this  topic,  but  the  following  extract  from  the  address  of 
the  mayor,  aldermen,  and  commonality  of  the  city  of  New  York  to  his 
Excellency,  Governor  Cornbury,  relative  to  a  teacher  for  the  new  free 
school  of  the  city,  will  illustrate  not  only  what  kind  of  schoolmaster  was 
wished,  but  also  the  point  of  view  of  leading  statesmen  of  the  time,  as 
well  as  the  regulation  regarding  license.  Speaking  of  securing  a  fit  person 
to  assume  charge  of  the  school  recently  provided  for  by  act  of  the  legis- 
lature, the  address  proceeds  as  follows:  "Wherefore  that  so  good  a 
worke  may  not  suffer  by  delay  nor  fail  of  its  desired  end  Wee  the  said 
Mayor  Alderman  &  Commonality  become  most  humble  Supplicants  to 
your  Excellency  that  you  would  be  pleased  to  help  on  the  structure 
whose  foundation  you  have  already  laid  in  Representing  our  Want  of  a 
School  Master  with  all  the  difficult  Circumstances  thereof  to  the  Right 
Reverend  and  no  less  Honourable  my  Lord  of  London  and  in  Requesting 
his  fatherly  Care  and  Concern  for  us  therein  and  by  his  Lordships  means 
that  of  the  Society  for  propagating  the  Gospel  in  foreign  parts  in  Order 
to  our  being  supplied  from  thence  with  a  person  of  good  learning  pious 
life  and  vertuous  Conversation  of  English  Extract  and  mild  temper  to 
be  our  said  School  Master"  (Pratt's  Ann.,  p.  86). 

Even  from  these  scant  data  it  is  evident  that  the  English  of  colonial 
New  York  attempted  to  carry  out  in  their  educational  policy  the  ideals 
which  obtained  in  the  home  country.  What  these  ideals  were  has  been 
sufficiently  illustrated  in  the  writings  of  John  Brinsly  and  Charles  Hoole. 
And  how  the  English  of  New  York  attempted  to  embody  them  hi  their 


EDUCATION  UNDER  THE  ENGLISH  REGIME  15 

educational  practice  has  been  exemplified  in  the  gubernatorial  license 
demanded  of  all  teachers  and  in  the  "pious  life  and  vertuous  conversa- 
tion" required  of  all  masters  of  schools.  The  pious  character  of  the 
teacher  was  very  properly  recognized  as  an  indispensable  factor  in  the 
educational  process,  and  the  schoolmaster's  license  was  a  sure  lever  in 
the  hands  of  the  church  by  which  it  might  lift  the  educational  structure 
to  a  religious  and  ecclesiastical  basis. 


CHAPTER  III 

EDUCATION  UNDER  THE  AUSPICES  OF  THE  SOCIETY  FOR  THE 
PROPAGATION  OF  THE  GOSPEL 

After  the  free-school  act  of  1702  nothing  whatever,  in  the  form  of 
legal  provision,  was  done  for  the  encouragement  of  primary  education 
during  the  remainder  of  the  colonial  period  (Pratt's  Ann.,  p.  95;  Basse's 
Index  to  Doc.  of  the  State  of  N.Y.,  p.  209,  under  "Public  Schools." 
This  list  of  documents  passes  from  1702  to  1798  direct).  The  place  of 
colonial  and  municipal  authority  was  now  largely  superseded  by  the 
venerable  Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel,  which,  from  its 
organization  in  1701  down  to  the  period  of  the  Revolution,  carried  on, 
for  that  time,  a  very  considerable  educational  work  in  the  colony.  It  is 
the  purpose  of  this  chapter  to  show  something  of  the  nature  and  extent 
of  this  work. 

Daniel  J.  Pratt,  Annals  of  Public  Education  in  the  State  of  New  York 
(pp.  111-14),  has  compiled  a  list  of  the  Society's  schoolmasters  employed 
in  the  Province  of  New  York.  This  list  is  based  on  the  Abstracts  of 
Proceedings  of  the  Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel  and  Bolton's 
History  of  the  Church  in  Westchester  County  (pp.  126,  351).  Besides 
catechists  and  those  engaged  in  the  teaching  of  Indians,  there  are  forty- 
nine  bona  fide  schoolmasters  exercising  their  calling  in  seventeen  towns 
located  in  seven  different  counties.  The  counties  occupied  were  Albany, 
Queens,  Suffolk,  Montgomery,  New  York,  Richmond,  and  Westchester. 

As  an  illustration  of  the  Society's  educational  work  are  offered  the 
following  extracts  from  Humphreys'  Gospel  in  North  America:  "The 
Society  were  sensible  nothing  could  be  more  convenient  than  the  opening 
of  Schools  in  this  Place.  The  whole  Island  was  divided  into  three 
Precincts,  they  appointed  a  schoolmaster  for  each.  Mr.  Brown  taught 
School  in  the  South  Precinct,  Mr.  Dupuy  in  the  North,  and  Mr.  William- 
son in  the  West.  Mr.  Dupuy  did  not  keep  School  long;  Mr.  Potts 
succeeded  him.  Afterwards  in  the  Year  1715,  Mr.  Taylor  was  appointed, 
and  continues  still  teaching  School;  and  several  Accounts  have  been  sent 
to  the  Society,  that  he  teaches  above  40  Scholars,  without  any  Con- 
sideration but  the  Society's  Bounty"  (p.  219). 

"The  Society  have  from  their  first  Establishment,  paid  Salaries  to 
several  Schoolmasters  in  this  Government.  Mr.  Gilderslieve  at  Hemp- 

16 


UNDER   SOCIETY  FOR  PROPAGATION   OF   THE   GOSPEL  17 

sted  in  Long-Island,  and  Mr.  Taylor  in  Statten-Island,  have  been 
mentioned  already.  Mr.  Huddlestone  was  appointed  Schoolmaster  in 
New- York  City,  in  the  Year  1709;  he  taught  40  poor  Children  for  the 
Society's  Allowance  only Mr.  Glover  was  appointed  School- 
master at  West-Chester  in  the  Year  1714,  and  afterwards  Mr.  Forester; 
he  teaches  between  30  and  40  Children,  Catechises  on  Saturday  and 
Sunday,  which  is  certified  by  the  Minister  and  chief  Inhabitants  of  that 
Town.  Mr.  Cleator  was  settled  Schoolmaster  at  Rye,  in  the  Year  1704; 
he  teaches  about  50  Children  to  Read  and  Write,  and  instructs  them  in 
the  Catechism.  And  Mr.  Den  ton  hath  been  lately  appointed  School- 
master at  Oysterbay  in  Long-Island"  (pp.  228,  229). 

This  educational  work  was  undertaken  in  response  to  a  real  need  in 
the  colony.  In  spite  of  all  the  agitation  of  the  subject  of  which  the 
original  records  give  evidence,  there  is  reason  to  believe  that  in  actual 
practice  achievement  was  far  behind  promise  and  precept.  One  of  the 
Society's  missionaries,  a  Rev.  Mr.  Thomas,  reporting  the  situation  in 
Long  Island,  1709,  writes  as  follows:  "That  there  was  a  great  Want  of 
Schools,  the  younger  People  and  Children  were  growing  up  in  a  miserable 
Ignorance,  for  want  of  being  taught  to  read;  and  he  could  not  perform 
one  Part  of  his  Pastoral  Office,  Catechising,  for  want  of  a  Schoolmaster 
to  teach  the  Children  to  read.  The  Society  appoint  Mr.  Gilderslieve 
Schoolmaster  there,  in  the  Year  1713,  and  allowed  him  a  Salary  to  teach 
the  poorer  Children  Reading,  Writing,  and  the  Rudiments  of  Arithmetic. 
The  Vestry  of  this  Parish  wrote  the  Society  a  Letter  on  this  Occasion, 
wherein  they  say :  '  Without  your  Bounty  and  Charity,  our  poor  Children 
would  undoubtedly  want  all  Education;  our  People  are  poor,  and 
settled  distantly  from  one  another,  and  unable  to  board  out  their 
Children'"  (Humphreys,  p.  224). 

The  need  of  schools  and  schoolmasters  in  the  colony  is  still  further 
exemplified  by  the  following  extracts: 

"As  to  Catechists  or  School-masters,  the  Society  have,  as  their 
Ability  would  permit,  answered  many  Demands  upon  them  on  that 
Head  also,  ....  By  continuing  Mr.  William  Huddleston's  Salary  of 
10  £  per  Ann.  for  his  care  of  the  School  at  New  York  (the  Maintenance 
of  which  was  before  uncertain  and  precarious) ;  By  granting  10  £  per 
annum  each  to  Mr.  Francis  Williamson  and  Mr.  John  de  Puy,  for  their 
Pains  in  the  School-way  at  Staten  Island,  so  satisfactory  to  the  worthy 
Missionary  there,  the  Reverend  Mr.  Aeneus  Mackenzy,  and  so  beneficial 
to  the  People  as  appears  by  an  address  of  the  Justices  of  Richmond 
County,  dated  June  13,  1712,  and  by  coming  to  a  unanimous  resolution, 


1 8  RELIGIOUS   EDUCATION  IN  NEW  YORK  PUBLIC   SCHOOLS 

that  Three  more  should  be  forthwith  allowed  the  Society's  Pay,  as 
Catechists  or  School-masters;  one  for  the  town  of  Hampstead  in  Long 
Island,  at  io£  per  Annum,  upon  the  Request  of  Mr.  John  Thomas, 
Missionary  there,  who  represents  the  Children  thereof,  for  want  of 
Letters  and  Education,  as  wild,  uncultivated  and  unimproved,  as  the 
soil  was  when  their  Forefathers  first  had  it"  (Pratt's  Ann.,  p.  104). 

Rev.  Mr.  Milner,  sending  his  report  from  Westchester,  1726,  has  this 
to  say  about  the  school:  "The  school  is  still  vacant,  and  deprived  of  a 
teacher,  but  (he)  petitions  the  Society  to  continue  their  bounty  to  some 
worthy  person  who  shall  be  chosen  schoolmaster;  as  the  school  is  a 
nursery  for  the  church,  and  of  great  service  in  these  parts  which  request 
is  accordingly  granted"  (Bolton,  Hist,  of  Church,  etc.,  p.  71). 

Rev.  James  Westmore,  minister  of  the  Parish  of  Rye,  Westchester 
County,  writing  to  the  secretary  of  the  Society,  1727,  after  speaking  of 
several  poor  private  schools,  goes  on  to  say:  "But  there  is  no  public 
provision  at  all  for  a  school  in  this  parish,  except  what  the  Honorable 
Society  allow  Mr.  Cleator,  nor  is  there  any  donations  or  benefactions  to 
the  minister  or  schoolmaster,  besides  what  I  have  mentioned,  nor  is  there 
ary  library  besides  the  Honorable  Society's"  (Bolton,  p.  250). 

"Mr.  Mackenzy,  the  Society's  Missionary  in  Staten  Island  in  the 
Province  of  New  York,  having  informed  them  how  much  they  wanted 
School-Masters,  to  instruct  the  children  of  the  English,  Dutch,  and 
French,  in  the  said  Island,  and  having  recommended  Mr.  Adam  Brown, 
and  Mr.  Benjamin  Drewit,  for  that  Purpose,  the  Society  made  choice  of 
them  both"  (Pratt's  Ann.,  p.  104). 

As  to  the  nature  of  the  schools  fostered  by  the  Society  for  the  Propa- 
gation of  the  Gospel,  it  is  necessary  to  remark  that  they  were  both  secular 
and  religious.  They  were  intended  to  give  a  primary  education  under 
religious  influence.  In  support  of  this  proposition,  the  following  refer- 
ences are  cited: 

"The  Society  sent  Quantities  of  Paper  for  the  Use  of  the  School, 
Catechisms,  and  large  Numbers  of  Common-Prayer-Books,  which  proved 
of  great  Benefit  to  the  younger  People.  The  Youth  was  instructed, 
made  their  Responses  regularly  at  Church,  and  Divine  Worship  was  per- 
formed with  more  Knowledge  and  Decency"  (Humphreys,  p.  225). 

"Besides  the  Missionaries  there  has  been  a  great  Demand  upon  them 
for  Catechists  and  School-Masters  to  Instruct  not  only  the  Servants  and 
Slaves  but  also  the  Children  of  the  Planters,  especially  the  poorer  sort, 
in  Reading,  Writing  and  the  Principles  of  the  Christian  Religion,  as 
Taught  and  Professed  in  the  Church  of  England"  (Pratt's  Ann.,  p.  104). 


UNDER  SOCIETY  FOR  PROPAGATION  OF  THE  GOSPEL  IQ 

A  schoolmaster  is  appointed  at  Rye,  "who  shall  be  allowed  5  £  per 
Annum,  on  a  certificate  that  he  has  taught  30  such,  the  Bible,  the 
Catechism,  and  the  Use  of  the  Liturgy"  (Abstract  of  Proceedings,  etc., 
1712-13,  p.  40;  quoted  in  Pratt's  Ann.,  p.  105). 

"  From  Mr.  Huddleston,  Schoolmaster  at  New  York,  That  he  teaches 
50  poor  children  on  the  Society's  Bounty  to  read  and  write,  and  instructs 
them  in  the  Church  Catechism,  many  of  which  are  now  fit  for  any  Trade  " 
(Pratt's  Ann.,  p.  105). 

"Mr.  Noxon,  the  schoolmaster,  writes  from  New  York,  August  6, 
1738,  That  he  hath  upwards  of  fifty  poor  Children,  whom  he  teaches  to 
read,  write  and  cipher  upon  the  Society's  Charity;  and  brings  to  Trinity 
Church  on  Wednesdays,  Fridays  and  Holy  Days,  to  be  catechised.  He 
adds,  there  is  a  great  want  of  Common  Prayer-Books  and  Psalters" 
(Pratt's  Ann.,  p.  106). 

The  Society's  abstracts  for  1714  contain  the  following  item:  "To 
these  donations  the  Society  added  two  dozen  prayer  books  for  Mr. 
Huddleston,  with  the  old  version  of  the  singing,  and  as  many  of  Lewis' 
Church  catechism,  for  exercise  in  his  school  or  on  mornings  of  the  Lord's 
days,  (when  not  only  his  own  scholars,  but  several  of  the  young  people 
of  the  town,  of  both  sexes,  came  willingly  to  be  informed)  one  dozen 
bibles  with  the  common  prayer  and  the  new  version  of  psalms,  twenty- 
five  psalters,  and  fifty-one  primers,  all  which  he  requested  as  contributing 
mightily,  to  the  spreading  the  good  work  he  has  in  hand,  having  taught 
besides  British  children,  six  hundred  Dutch  and  French,  to  read  and 
write  English"  (Bolton,  Hist,  of  the  Church,  etc.,  p.  204). 

From  the  evidence  already  given  there  can  be  no  question  that  the 
Society's  schools  taught  reading,  writing,  and  ciphering,  but  that  they 
were  distinctly  religious  and  ecclesiastical  in  aim  is  still  further  authen- 
ticated by  the  following  extract  from  the  instructions  for  schoolmasters 
employed  by  the  Society: 

"I.  That  they  well  consider  the  End  for  which  they  are  employed  by 
the  Society,  viz.  The  instructing  and  disposing  Children  to  believe  and 
live  as  Christians. 

"II.  In  order  to  this  End,  that  they  teach  them  to  read  truly  and 
distinctly,  that  they  may  be  capable  of  reading  the  Holy  Scriptures, 
and  other  pious  and  useful  Books,  for  informing  their  Understandings 
and  regulating  their  manners. 

"III.  That  they  instruct  them  thoroughly  in  the  Church-Catechism; 
teach  them  first  to  read  it  distinctly  and  exactly,  then  to  learn  it  per- 
fectly by  Heart;  endeavoring  to  make  them  understand  the  Sense  and 


20  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION  IN  NEW  YORK  PUBLIC   SCHOOLS 

Meaning  of  it,  by  the  Help  of  such  Expositions,  as  the  Society  shall 
send  over. 

"IV.  That  they  teach  them  to  Write  a  plain  and  legible  Hand,  in 
order  to  the  fitting  them  for  useful  Employments;  with  as  much  Arith- 
metic, as  shall  be  necessary  to  the  same  purpose. 


"VI.  That  they  daily  use,  Morning  and  Evening,  the  Prayers  com- 
posed for  their  Use  in  this  Collection  with  their  Scholars  in  the  School, 
and  teach  them  the  Prayers  and  Graces  composed  for  their  Use  at  Home. 

"VII.  That  they  oblige  their  Scholars  to  be  constant  at  Church  on 
the  Lord's-Day  Morning  and  Afternoon,  and  at  all  other  Times  of 
Publick  Worship;  that  they  cause  them  to  carry  their  Bibles  and  Prayer 
Books  with  them,  instructing  them  how  to  use  them  there,  and  how  to 
demean  themselves  in  the  several  Parts  of  Worship;  that  they  be  there 
present  with  them,  taking  Care  of  their  reverent  and  decent  Behavior, 
and  examine  them  afterwards  as  to  what  they  have  heard  and  learned" 
(Pratt's  Ann.,  p.  109). 

The  facts  set  forth  in  this  chapter  go  to  show  the  extent  and  nature 
of  the  educational  work  carried  on  in  the  Province  of  New  York  by  the 
Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel.  Since  colonial  and  municipal 
interest  had  waned,  the  Society  came  in  to  supply  a  real  educational  need. 
There  was  no  other  educational  agency  in  the  colony  at  that  time  so 
conspicuous  in  its  activities  for  the  public  good.  Yet,  as  we  have  seen, 
the  ultimate  purpose  of  the  Society  for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel  was 
other  than  educational,  and  reading  and  writing  were  taught  the  children 
merely  as  a  gateway  to  the  Bible  and  Catechism  and  the  Prayer-Book. 
The  end  sought  was  religious  education. 


CHAPTER  IV 
EDUCATIONAL  MOVEMENTS  OF  THE  EARLY  NINETEENTH  CENTURY 

Hasse  enumerates  the  following  church  schools  operative  in  the  city 
of  New  York  for  the  greater  part  of  the  first  quarter  of  the  nineteenth 
century,  and  some  of  them  continuing  still  longer:  Christ  Church, 
Bethel  Baptist  Church,  Scotch  Presbyterian  Church,  First  Presbyterian 
Church,  German  Lutheran  Church,  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  St. 
Michael's  Church,  First  Baptist  Church,  Episcopal  Charity  School, 
Reformed  Dutch,  St.  Peter's  Church  Free  School,  St.  Patrick's  Cathedral 
Free  School  (Index  to  Doc.  of  State  ofN.Y.,  under  "Private  and  Parochial 
Schools").  How  widely  these  schools  were  established  throughout  the 
state  it  is  perhaps  now  impossible  to  tell,  but  there  is  no  reason  to  suppose 
that  the  city  of  New  York  enjoyed  a  monopoly  of  this  good  work.  These 
church  schools  were  for  the  education  of  the  poor  and  were,  as  a  matter 
of  course,  religious  in  aim  and  method. 

In  1805  a  corporation  was  formed  in  the  city  of  New  York,  known  at 
first  as  the  Free  School  Society,  afterward  as  the  Public  School  Society. 
Its  original  object  was  the  education  of  the  children  of  the  poor  who  did 
not  belong  to,  or  were  not  provided  for  by,  any  religious  denomination. 
But  feeling  that  this  restriction  unnecessarily  limited  their  sphere  of 
usefulness,  this  society  in  1808,  received  authority  from  the  legislature 
to  educate  all  children  who  were  proper  objects  of  gratuitous  instruction. 
The  Free  School  Society  of  the  city  of  New  York  was  one  of  the  most 
conspicuous  educational  agencies  of  the  state  until  in  the  year  1853  it  was 
merged  into  the  general  system  of  common  instruction  (Ann.  Reports 
and  Manuscript  Records  in  custody  of  N.Y.  Historical  Society  Library). 

The  early  records  of  this  Society  clearly  indicate  its  position  on  the 
question  of  religious  instruction  in  the  schools  of  the  people.  Instruction 
was  to  be  religious  but  not  sectarian.  The  following  extracts  from  the 
Society's  address  to  the  public,  1805,  will  illustrate  this  point: 

"While  the  various  religious  and  benevolent  societies  in  this  city, 
with  a  spirit  of  charity  and  zeal  which  the  precepts  and  example  of  the 
Divine  Author  of  our  religion  could  alone  inspire,  amply  provide  for  the 
education  of  such  poor  children  as  belong  to  their  respective  associations, 
there  still  remains  a  large  number  living  in  total  neglect  of  religious  and 
moral  instruction,  and  unacquainted  with  the  common  rudiments  of 

21 


22  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION  IN  NEW  YORK  PUBLIC   SCHOOLS 

learning,  essentially  requisite  for  the  due  management  of  the  ordinary 
business  of  life"  (Bourne,  History  of  the  Public  School  Society,  p.  6). 

"It  is  proposed,  also,  to  establish,  on  the  first  day  of  the  week,  a 
school,  called  a  Sunday  School,  more  particularly  for  such  children  as, 
from  peculiar  circumstances,  are  unable  to  attend  on  the  other  days  of 
the  week.  In  this,  as  in  the  Common  School,  it  will  be  a  primary  object, 
without  observing  the  peculiar  forms  of  any  religious  Society,  to  inculcate 
the  sublime  truths  of  religion  and  morality  contained  in  the  Holy 
Scriptures"  (Bourne,  p.  7). 

The  attitude  of  the  Society  is  still  further  and  fully  illustrated  by  the 
following  extracts  from  its  annual  reports: 

"While  the  Trustees  have  been  thus  engaged  in  communicating,  to 
the  understandings  of  the  children,  the  elements  of  useful  knowledge, 
they  have  not  been  unmindful  of  the  importance  of  imbuing  their  minds 
also  with  a  sense  of  moral  and  religious  obligation. 

"The  afternoon  of  every  Tuesday,  or  third  day  of  the  week,  has  been 
set  apart  for  this  purpose;  and  the  children  have  been  instructed  in  the 
catechisms  of  the  churches  to  which  they  respectively  belong.  This 
pious  office  is  performed  by  an  association  of  highly  respectable  females, 
who  are  in  profession  with  the  different  religious  denominations  in  the 
city.  The  number  of  children,  educated  in  the  peculiar  tenets  of  each 
religious  community,  is,  at  the  present,  as  follows:  Presbyterians  271, 
Episcopalians  186,  Methodists  172,  Baptists  119,  Dutch  Church  41, 
Roman  Catholic  9"  (Ninth  Annual  Report,  1814,  not  paged). 

"The  office  of  communicating  religious  instruction  to  the  children, 
by  teaching  them  the  Catechisms  of  their  respective  Churches,  is  still 
performed  by  the  Association  of  benevolent  females,  who  are  zealously 
engaged  in  it"  (Tenth  Annual  Report,  1815). 

"The  children  continue  to  receive  the  advantages  of  religious  instruc- 
tion, communicated  to  them  from  the  catechisms  used  in  the  respective 
churches  to  which  they  belong,  in  the  manner  mentioned  in  the  report  of 
last  year"  (Eleventh  Annual  Report,  1816). 

Speaking  of  the  Society's  work,  the  report  says:  "It  has  happily 
brought  the  means  of  education  within  the  reach  of  all  classes  of  people; 
and,  gradually  diffusing  among  them  the  light  of  knowledge  and  of 
religion,  must  have  a  powerful  tendency  to  ameliorate  the  condition  of 
Society  and  to  advance  the  best  interests  of  our  country"  (Twelfth 
Annual  Report,  1817). 

"With  gratitude  we  acknowledge  a  donation  of  61  Bibles,  and  50 
Testaments  from  the  New- York  Auxiliary  Bible  Society,  and  of  25 


EDUCATIONAL   MOVEMENTS   OF   NINETEENTH   CENTURY  23 

Bibles,  from  the  New- York  Bible  Society"  (Fourteenth  Annual  Report, 
1819). 

"No  new  books  for  the  instruction  of  children  in  the  Free-Schools, 
have  been  introduced  during  the  past  year.  The  Scripture  lessons  con- 
tinue to  be  used  with  all  the  advantages  contemplated  at  the  tune  of 
their  adoption,  and  it  affords  satisfaction  to  find  a  book  so  useful,  becom- 
ing popular  over  the  continent  of  Europe,  and  to  hear  of  its  being 
introduced  in  South  America"  (Eighteenth  Annual  Report,  1823). 

From  the  extracts  cited  above  it  appears  evident  that  the  Free  School 
Society  was  deeply  interested  in  the  religious  instruction  of  the  children, 
although  from  the  beginning  it  recognized  the  importance  of  avoiding 
sectarian  differences. 

The  religious  motive  in  the  founding  of  common  schools  is  clearly 
evidenced  by  the  public  utterances  of  prominent  statesmen  of  the  tune. 
In  his  message  to  the  legislature,  1787,  Governor  Clinton  said  in  part: 
"Neglect  of  the  education  of  youth  is  one  of  the  evils  consequent  upon 
war.  Perhaps  there  is  scarce  anything  more  worthy  your  attention  than 
the  revival  and  encouragement  of  seminaries  of  learning;  and  nothing 
by  which  we  can  more  satisfactorily  express  our  gratitude  to  the  Supreme 
Being  for  his  past  favors — since  piety  and  virtue  are  generally  the  off- 
spring of  an  enlightened  understanding"  (quoted  by  Randall,  History 
of  the  Common  School  System  of  the  State  of  N.Y.,  p.  8). 

Governor  Tompkins  in  his  legislative  message,  1810,  declared  his 
conviction  as  follows:  "I  cannot  omit  this  occasion  of  inviting  your 
attention  to  the  means  of  instruction  for  the  rising  generation.  To 
enable  them  to  perceive  and  duly  to  estimate  their  rights;  to  inculcate 
correct  principles  and  habits  of  morality  and  religion;  and  to  render 
them  useful  citizens,  a  competent  provision  for  their  education  is 
all-essential"  (Randall,  p.  15). 

In  1811,  Governor  Tompkins,  by  act  of  legislature,  appointed  a  com- 
mission of  five  to  report  a  plan  for  the  establishment  and  organization  of 
common  schools.  This  report  was  presented  to  the  legislature,  Feb- 
ruary 17,  1812,  and  embodied  the  main  features  of  the  common-school 
system  up  to  1840.  The  following  extracts  will  show  the  remarkable 
influence  of  the  religious  motive: 

"To  rescue  man  from  that  state  of  degradation  to  which  he  is 
doomed,  unless  redeemed  by  education;  to  unfold  his  physical,  intel- 
lectual, and  moral  powers;  and  fit  him  for  those  high  destinies  which  his 
Creator  has  prepared  for  him,  cannot  fail  to  excite  the  most  ardent  sen- 
sibility of  the  philosopher  and  the  philanthropist." 


24  RELIGIOUS   EDUCATION  IN  NEW  YORK  PUBLIC   SCHOOLS 

After  pointing  out  relation  of  education  to  good  morals  and  free 
government,  the  report  proceeds  as  follows:  "The  Commissioners  think 
it  unnecessary  to  represent  in  a  stronger  point  of  view  the  importance 
and  absolute  necessity  of  education,  as  connected  either  with  the  cause 
of  religion  and  morality,  or  with  the  prosperity  and  existence  of  our 
political  institutions." 

This  education  is  to  be  provided  by  the  establishment  of  common 
schools  spread  throughout  the  state.  "This  appears  to  be  the  best  plan 
that  can  be  devised  to  disseminate  religion,  morality,  and  learning 
throughout  a  whole  country." 

As  to  what  should  be  taught  in  these  schools  the  report  says: 
"Reading,  writing,  arithmetic,  and  the  principles  of  morality  are 
essential  to  every  person,  however  humble  his  situation  in  life.  Without 
the  first,  it  is  impossible  to  receive  those  lessons  of  morality  which  are 
inculcated  in  the  writings  of  the  learned  and  pious;  nor  is  it  possible 
to  become  acquainted  with  our  political  constitutions  and  laws,  nor  to 
decide  those  great  political  questions  which  ultimately  are  referred  to 
the  intelligence  of  the  people.  Writing  and  arithmetic  are  indispensable 
in  the  management  of  one's  private  affairs,  and  to  facilitate  one's  com- 
merce with  the  world.  Morality  and  religion  are  the  foundation  of  all 
that  is  truly  great  and  good;  and  are,  consequently,  of  primary  im- 
portance." 

The  commission  is  solicitous  as  to  the  introduction  of  proper  books 
into  the  contemplated  schools.  "Much  good  is  to  be  derived  from  a  ju- 
dicious selection  of  books,  calculated  to  enlighten  the  understanding  not 
only,  but  to  improve  the  heart.  And  as  it  is  of  incalculable  consequence  to 
guard  the  young  and  tender  mind  from  receiving  fallacious  impressions, 
the  Commissioners  cannot  omit  mentioning  this  subject  as  a  part  of  the 
weighty  trust  reposed  in  them.  Connected  with  the  introduction  of 
suitable  books,  the  Commissioners  take  the  liberty  of  suggesting  that 
some  observation  and  advice  touching  the  reading  of  the  Bible  in  the 
schools  might  be  salutary.  In  order  to  render  the  sacred  volume  pro- 
ductive of  the  greatest  advantage,  it  should  be  held  in  a  very  different 
light  from  that  of  a  common  school  book.  It  should  be  regarded  as  a 
book  intended  for  literary  improvement,  not  merely,  but  as  inculcating 
great  and  indispensable  moral  truths  also.  With  these  impressions  the 
Commissioners  are  induced  to  recommend  the  practice  introduced  into 
the  New  York  Free  Schools,  of  having  select  chapters  read  at  the  opening 
of  the  school  in  the  morning,  and  the  like  at  the  close  in  the  afternoon. 
This  is  deemed  the  best  mode  of  preserving  the  religious  regard  which  is 
due  to  the  sacred  writings." 


EDUCATIONAL  MOVEMENTS   OF  NINETEENTH  CENTURY  25 

"And  the  Commissioners  cannot  but  hope  that  that  Being  who  rules 
the  universe  in  justice  and  in  mercy,  who  rewards  virtue  and  punishes 
vice,  will  most  graciously  deign  to  smile  benignly  on  the  humble  efforts 
of  a  people  in  a  cause  purely  His  own;  and  that  He  will  manifest  His 
pleasure  in  the  lasting  prosperity  of  our  country"  (entire  document 
reproduced  in  Randall,  pp.  17-23). 

A  bill  embodying  this  report  was  passed  by  the  legislature  1812  and, 
as  stated  above,  remained  in  force  till  about  1840.  As  the  report  of  a 
legislative  commission  it  is  evidence  of  the  first  order  in  support  of  the 
contention  that  the  common  schools  were  founded,  in  part  at  least,  from 
a  religious  motive,  and  that  religious  instruction  was  to  form  a  part  of 
their  curriculum. 


CHAPTER  V 
ELEMENTARY-SCHOOL  BOOKS  OF  THE  EIGHTEENTH  CENTURY 

We  have  already  seen  in  the  preceding  chapters  the  use  of  religious 
material  in  the  schools  in  the  form  of  psalters  and  catechisms,  as  well  as 
in  the  reading  of  the  Bible  itself.  It  is  the  purpose  of  the  present  chapter 
to  take  a  step  farther  in  advance,  and  show  the  religious  character  of  the 
more  important  school  books  of  the  colonial  period  and  the  early  days 
of  the  republic. 

One  of  the  best  authorities  on  this  subject  (Johnson,  Old-Time 
Schools  and  School-Books,  p.  185)  gives  the  following  very  interesting 
summary:  "John  Locke,  in  1690,  said  of  elementary  education  in 
England,  'The  method  is  to  adhere  to  the  ordinary  road  of  the  Horn- 
book, Primer,  Psalter,  Testament,  and  Bible;  these  are  the  only  books 
used  to  engage  the  liking  of  children  and  tempt  them  to  read.'  'The 
ordinary  road '  was  the  same  here.  There  were  three  reading  classes  in 
the  schools— 'The  Psalter  Class'  for  beginners,  next  'The  Testament 
Class,'  and  thirdly  'The  Bible  Class,'  which  went  through  about  two 
chapters  at  each  school  session  and  was  expected  to  spell  the  words  in 
the  portions  read.  For  a  long  time  spelling-books  were  lacking,  and 
they  did  not  become  common  much  before  1750;  but  after  that  time  for 
fully  three-quarters  of  a  century  the  spelling-book  was  almost  the  sole 
resource  of  the  school  children  for  elementary  instruction.  Advanced 
readers  were  in  the  market  in  the  early  years  of  the  republic,  but  readers 
for  the  beginners  seem  to  have  been  thought  unnecessary.  Thus  the 
spellers  of  the  forefathers  did  double  duty  as  spelling-books  and  prim- 
ers, and  were  a  much  more  important  institution  than  they  have  ever 
been  since." 

Disregarding,  as  not  calling  for  further  consideration,  psalters,  Tes- 
taments, and  Bibles,  our  present  study  will  be  confined  to  hornbooks, 
primers,  spelling-books,  and  readers.  The  hornbook  consisted  of  a  small 
sheet  of  paper  pasted  on  a  board  and  covered  with  transparent  horn  as 
a  protection  for  the  printing  underneath.  It  had  its  beginnings  in  the 
Middle  Ages  and  persisted  far  down  in  the  eighteenth  century.  It  was 
advertised  in  a  Philadelphia  newspaper  so  late  as  1770  (Pennsylvania 
Gazette).  The  alphabet,  the  Lord's  Prayer,  some  verses  of  Scripture  or 

26 


ELEMENTARY-SCHOOL   BOOKS   OF  EIGHTEENTH  CENTURY  27 

moral  precepts,  and  some  stanzas  of  poetry  composed  its  course  of  study 
(Tuer,  History  of  the  Horn-Book) . 

The  hornbook  was  widely  used  in  this  country  as  well  as  abroad. 
The  chief  evidence  of  this  fact  is  the  advertisements  of  booksellers  in  the 
newspapers  of  such  cities  as  Boston,  New  York,  and  Philadelphia.  The 
New  York  Gazette  of  November  6,  1738  advertises  hornbooks  for  sale. 
The  New  York  Gazette  Revived  in  the  Weekly  Post-Boy  has  a  similar 
advertisement  on  June  27,  1748;  also  in  the  issue  of  July  25,  1748;  also 
in  1753- 

An  interesting  advertisement  is  found  in  the  New  York  Weekly  Post- 
Boy  of  August  19,  1745:  "John  Hinsliew,  Book  seller  advertises  Past 
Board  Books  to  answer  the  End  of  Hornbooks  for  little  children."  The 
fact  that  the  "Book  seller"  wishes  the  people  to  know  that  he  has  some- 
thing that  will  serve  as  a  satisfactory  substitute  for  hornbooks  seems 
good  evidence  to  the  effect  that  the  latter  were  in  use  at  that  time,  or 
had  been,  not  a  great  while  before. 

The  primer  is  an  expanded  hornbook,  and  for  its  origin  goes  back  to 
the  Romish  Abecedariums  of  the  fifteenth  century.  It  figured  largely  in 
the  English  Reformation  and  was  very  early  brought  to  the  American 
Colonies  (Ford,  New  England  Primer,  pp.  1-12).  Primers  were  adver- 
tised in  the  New  York  papers  certainly  as  early  as  1738  (New  York 
Gazette,  November  6,  1738).  Similar  advertisements  are  found  in  the 
New  York  Weekly  Post-Boy,  December  24,  1744,  December  2,  1745;  the 
New  York  Mercury,  September  30,  1754,  October  14,  1754,  June  7,  1756, 
July  1 8,  1757.  There  were  also  the  New  York  Primer  published  1747 
(New  York  Evening  Post,  September  7,  1747),  Church  of  England  Primer 
(New  York  Gazette  Revived  in  the  Weekly  Post-Boy,  June  27,  1748), 
and,  in  Pennsylvania,  at  least,  there  were  Quaker  and  Presbyterian 
Primers  (Pennsylvania  Gazette,  January  6,  1742). 

But  the  queen  of  them  all  was  the  New  England  Primer.  It  was 
first  published  in  Boston,  between  1687  and  1690,  by  Benjamin  Harris. 
It  seems  to  have  been  a  success  from  the  beginning,  as  a  second  and 
enlarged  edition  was  printed  in  1691  (Ford,  p.  16).  Its  circulation  was 
enormous.  Paul  Leicester  Ford,  in  his  scholarly  work  on  the  subject 
(p.  19),  thus  describes  its  great  popularity.  "For  one  hundred  years 
this  Primer  was  the  school-book  of  the  dissenters  of  America,  and  for 
another  hundred,  it  was  frequently  reprinted.  In  the  unfavorable 
locality  (in  a  sectarian  sense)  of  Philadelphia,  the  accounts  of  Benjamin 
Franklin  and  David  Hall  show  that  between  1749  and  1766,  or  a  period 
of  seventeen  years,  that  firm  sold  thirty-seven  thousand,  one  hundred 


28  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION   IN   NEW  YORK  PUBLIC   SCHOOLS 

copies.  Livermore  stated  in  1849  that  within  the  last  dozen  years 
'  100,000  copies  of  modern  editions  ....  have  been  circulated.'  An 
over-conservative  claim  for  it  is  to  estimate  an  annual  average  sale  of 
twenty  thousand  copies  during  a  period  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  years, 
or  total  sales  of  three  million  copies." 

But  our  chief  concern  is  in  the  distribution  of  the  Primer  in  the 
Province  of  New  York.  And  while  there  is  not  the  wealth  of  evidence 
that  some  might  wish,  there  is  perhaps  no  student  of  the  subject  who 
does  not  feel  morally  certain  of  the  wide  use  of  the  New  England  Primer 
in  the  New  York  of  the  eighteenth  century.  Nor  are  we  left  to  con- 
jecture. Evans'  American  Bibliography  (III,  No.  6726)  contains  the 
following  interesting  announcement: 

"THE  NEW  ENGLAND  PRIMRE  (sic)  IMPROVED,  FOR  THE  MORE  EASY 
ATTAINING  THE  TRUE  READING  OF  ENGLISH.  TO  WHICH  Is  ADDED,  THE 
ASSEMBLY  OF  DIVINES  CATECHISM. 

"New  York:   Printed  and  sold  by  James  Parker,  in  Beaver-Street, 


This  is  the  earliest  known  date  at  which  the  New  England  Primer 
was  printed  in  New  York  City,  but  it  was  advertised  for  sale  as  early  as 
1748,  July  25,  in  the  New  York  Gazette:  "Writing  Books  for  School- 
Boys,  New  England  Primers;  Church  of  England  Primers;  Horn- 
Books."  Also  the  advertisements  of  primers  in  general,  referred  to 
above,  are  in  point  here.  It  is  an  interesting  fact  that  by  far  the  larger 
number  of  these  advertisements  do  not  designate  any  particular  primer. 
Their  names  were  well  known.  Designation  was  therefore  unnecessary. 
But  the  New  England  Primer  was  the  most  notable  of  them  all,  and, 
without  doubt,  was  in  every  advertiser's  collection.  Now  the  fact  that 
the  New  England  Primer  was  published  and  advertised  by  booksellers 
in  New  York  is  conclusive  evidence  of  its  use  in  that  section  of  the 
country. 

In  the  course  of  its  long  and  popular  career  the  New  England  Primer 
suffered  many  minor  alterations  at  the  hands  of  printers  and  publishers, 
yet  through  all  retained  unmistakable  marks  of  its  identity.  Despite 
incidental  changes,  it  usually  contained  the  alphabet,  easy  syllables 
for  children,  sentences  of  moral  and  religious  instruction,  the  rhymed 
alphabet,  or  short  poems  illustrating  each  letter,  Lord's  Prayer,  Creed, 
and  Catechism.  Except  the  alphabet  and  words  for  spelling,  it  was 
exclusively  a  religious  book,  and  its  widespread  use  throughout  the 
eighteenth  century  warrants  a  more  detailed  statement  of  its  contents 
(see  Ford's  Introduction). 


ELEMENTARY-SCHOOL  BOOKS   OF  EIGHTEENTH  CENTURY  29 

I  have  in  hand  a  reprint  of  the  edition  of  1777.  Immediately  after 
the  title-page  the  reader  comes  to  two  prayers:  "The  young  Infant's  or 
Child's  morning  prayer";  "The  Infant's  or  young  Child's  Evening 
Prayer,"  both  by  Dr.  Watts.  These  prayers  are  followed  by  six  pages 
of  letters,  syllables,  and  spelling.  Then  conies  the  "rhymed  alphabet." 
Each  letter  is  illustrated  by  a  little  cut  and  a  rhymed  couplet,  such  as 
the  following: 

A.  "In  Adam's  Fall  B.  "Heaven  to  find, 

We  sinned  all."  The  Bible  Mind." 

Every  couplet  of  the  twenty-four  is  religious  in  its  tone,  and  nearly  every 
one  a  reference  to  the  Bible.  This,  however,  was  not  the  case  in  editions 
prior  to  1740  (Ford,  p.  46).  Next  follows  a  series  of  questions  with  such 
answers  as  Adam,  Eve,  Noah,  Job,  Jesus  Christ,  Son  of  God,  etc.  The 
alphabet  of  lessons  fills  the  next  two  pages,  each  one  of  which  is  a  quota- 
tion from  the  Bible.  Now  come  the  Lord's  Prayer,  the  creed,  Dr. 
Watts's  Cradle  Hymn,  and  verses  for  children.  These  last  cover  seven 
pages  and  start  off  with  the  following: 

"Though  I  am  young  a  little  one, 
If  I  can  speak  and  go  alone, 
Then  I  must  learn  to  know  the  Lord, 
And  learn  to  read  his  holy  word. 
'Tis  time  to  seek  to  God  and  pray 
For  what  I  want  for  every  day: 
I  have  a  precious  soul  to  save, 
And  I  a  mo  rtal  body  have, 
Tho'  I  am  young  yet  I  may  die, 
And  hasten  to  eternity: 
There  is  a  dreadful  fiery  hell, 
Where  wicked  ones  must  always  dwell: 
There  is  a  heaven  full  of  joy, 
Where  godly  ones  must  always  stay: 
To  one  of  these  my  soul  must  fly, 
As  in  a  moment  when  I  die." 

After  ten  more  pages  of  varied  religious  material  comes  "The 
Shorter  Catechism,  Agreed  upon  by  the  Reverend  Assembly  of  Divines 
at  Westminster."  This  in  turn  is  followed  by  "Spiritual  Milk  For 
American  Babes,  Drawn  out  of  the  Breasts  of  both  Testaments  for  their 
Souls  Nourishment.  By  John  Cotton."  After  this  "Spiritual  Milk" 
comes  "A  Dialogue  between  Christ,  Youth,  and  the  Devil."  This  array 
of  religious  and  theological  pabulum  reaches  a  fitting  conclusion  with 


30  RELIGIOUS   EDUCATION  IN  NEW  YORK  PUBLIC   SCHOOLS 

advice  to  children  by  the  Reverend  and  Venerable  Nathaniel  Clap,  of 
Newport,  Rhode  Island:  "Good  children  should  remember  daily,  God 
their  Creator,  Redeemer,  and  Sanctifier;  to  believe  in,  love  and  serve 
him;  their  parents  to  obey  them  in  the  Lord;  their  bible  and  catechism; 
their  baptism;  the  Lord's  day;  the  Lord's  death  and  resurrection;  their 
own  death  and  resurrection;  and  the  day  of  judgment,  when  all  that  are 
not  fit  for  heaven  must  be  sent  to  hell.  And  they  should  pray  to  God  in 
the  name  of  Christ,  for  saving  grace." 

Coote's  English  School-Master  was  one  of  the  earliest  so-called 
spelling-books,  published  first  in  1590.  It  contained  about  seventy-two 
pages,  of  which  eighteen  were  given  to  a  "Short  Catechism,  necessary 
observations  of  a  Christian,  prayers,  and  psalms"  (Littlefield,  Early 
Schools  &  School-Books  of  New  England,  p.  120).  According  to  the 
author  just  quoted  (p.1 119)  this  book  was  extensively  used  in  the  New 
England  schools  of  the  seventeenth  century.  While  positive  evidence  is 
lacking,  there  seems  no  reason  to  doubt  its  use  in  New  York  as  well. 

About  a  century  later  than  Coote's  School-Master,  1708,  was  pub- 
lished an  interesting  textbook  for  schools,  called  The  History  of  Genesis. 
It  was  composed  of  short  narratives  from  the  first  book  of  the  Bible.  Its 
title-page  reads  in  part  as  follows:  "The  History  of  Genesis.  Being  an 
Account  of  the  Holy  Lives  and  Actions  of  the  Patriarchs;  explained 
with  Pious  and  Edifying  Explications,  and  illustrated  with  near  Forty 
Figures.  Fitted  for  the  Use  of  Schools,  and  recommended  to  Teachers 
of  Children,  as  a  Book  very  proper  for  the  learning  them  to  read  English, 
and  instructing  them  in  the  right  understanding  of  these  Divine  His- 
tories" (Johnson,  p.  45). 

Neither  of  the  two  books  named  in  the  paragraphs  above  was  a 
speller  in  the  strict  sense  of  the  word.  They  are  mentioned  here  because 
they  were  introductory  to  that  class  of  school  books,  and  show  as  well  as 
any  the  religious  character  of  the  instruction,  which  was  characteristic 
of  the  tune. 

The  speller  that  was  most  widely  used  in  the  eighteenth  century  was 
Dilworth's  A  New  Guide  to  the  English  Tongue.  This  was  published  in 
1740,  and  for  about  fifty  years  enjoyed  unrivaled  popularity.  That  it 
found  a  place  in  the  schools  of  New  York  is  placed  beyond  the  per- 
adventure  of  doubt.  The  following  newspaper  advertisements  of  book- 
sellers are  quite  conclusive:  New  York  Mercury,  June  27,  1748,  July  22, 
1754,  November  8,  1762,  and  New  York  Gazette  and  Weekly  Mercury, 
June  25,  1770.  One  of  these  advertisements  says:  "Dilworth's  Spelling 
Book:  very  cheap  by  the  dozen."  Another  reads:  " Dilworth's  Spelling- 
Book  by  the  Wholesale."  No  doubt  there  are  numerous  advertisements 


ELEMENTARY-SCHOOL  BOOKS   OF   EIGHTEENTH  CENTURY  31 

which  have  not  come  to  notice,  but  those  referred  to  above  cover  a  period 
of  twenty-two  years  and  can  have  no  explanation  apart  from  a  very 
general  demand  for  the  book  in  question. 

The  conviction  that  Dilworth's  Speller  was  very  widely  used  in  the 
Province  of  New  York,  and  that  it  is  typical  of  the  school  books  of  the 
period  calls  for  some  account  of  its  contents.  As  indicating  the  general 
character  of  the  book  and  the  educational  spirit  of  the  times,  the  follow- 
ing extracts  from  the  preface  will  be  suggestive: 

"It  has  been  a  general  and  true  Observation,  that  with  the  Reforma- 
tion of  these  Realms,  Ignorance  has  gradually  vanished  and  the  increase 
of  Learning  amongst  us,  who  take  the  Word  of  God  for  a  Lantern  to  our 
Feet,  and  a  Light  to  our  Paths.  Thus, 

"They  who  grop'd  their  Way  to  Virtue  and  Knowledge  in  the  Days 
of  Darkness  and  implicit  Zeal,  were  taught  little  more  than  to  mumble 
over  a  few  Prayers  by  Heart,  and  never  called  upon  to  read,  much  less 
permitted  to  enquire  into  the  Truth  of  what  they  professed.  But 

"Since  the  Sunshine  of  the  Gospel  of  Jesus  Christ  has  risen  amongst 
us;  since  we  are  loosed  from  the  Bands  of  Ignorance  and  Superstition; 
since  every  Protestant  believes  it  to  be  his  Duty  to  promote  Christian 
Knowledge;  certainly  it  will  be  confessed,  that  all  Improvements  in 
Learning  ought  to  be  encouraged;  and  consequently  that  they  deserve 
our  particular  Regard,  who  study  to  make  the  first  Steps  therefore  firm 
and  easy.  For  human  Prudence  teacheth,  That  a  good  Beginning  is  the 
most  reasonable  Prospect  of  a  good  Ending.  Therefore, 

"As  we  boast  of  greater  Advantages  than  our  Forefathers,  let  us  take 
care,  lest  we  frustrate  the  great  Work  begun  amongst  us,  by  negligent 
Prosecution  of  our  Duty:  For  I  would  have  you  well  assured,  that  it  is 
as  bad  to  learn  the  first  Rudiments  of  Literature  under  wrong  and 
depraved  Habits,  as  not  to  learn  them  at  all.  For,  the  Man  seldom 
clears  himself  of  these  ill  Faculties,  which  are  contracted  in  his  tender 
Age:  So,  says  Solomon,  Train  up  a  Child  in  the  Way  he  should  go,  and 
when  he  is  old  he  will  not  depart  from  it"  (p.  iv). 

The  first  part  of  the  book  covers  seventy-six  pages.  The  plan  of 
instruction  is  to  give  several  pages  of  letters  and  syllables,  followed  by 
short  reading  lessons  of  two  or  three  pages.  Here  is  a  sample  page  of 
the  reading: 

"  Shew  me  the  right  Way,  O  Lord,  and  guide  me  in  it. 
"O  think  not  on  my  past  Sins;  but  think  on  me,  O  Lord,  for  my  good. 
"All  the  Paths  of  the  Lord  are  True  to  such  as  keep  his  Laws. 
"He  that  doth  love  the  Lord  shall  dwell  at  Ease;   and  his  Seed  shall  have 
the  Land." 


32  RELIGIOUS   EDUCATION  IN   NEW  YORK  PUBLIC   SCHOOLS 

"Put  thy  Trust  in  God,  and  he  will  help  thee. 

"It  is  a  good  Thing  to  give  Thanks,  and  to  call  on  the  Name  of  the  Lord. 
"Let  us  sing  Psalms  to  the  Lord  our  God. 

"When  thou  shalt  make  a  Vow  to  the  Lord  thy  God,  thou  shalt  not  be  slack  to 
pay  it." 

"That  which  is  gone  out  of  thy  Lips,  thou  shalt  keep:  And  if  a  Man  vow  to 

the  Lord,  he  shall  keep  his  Oath. 
"Let  us  stand  fast.    Let  us  strive  to  be  good. 
"Charge  them  that  are  Rich  in  this  World,  that  they  do  good,  and  be  glad  to 

give"  (p.  19). 

The  second  and  third  parts  of  the  book  are  taken  up  with  a  table  of 
useful  words  and  a  study  of  grammatical  construction.  Part  IV  is  "An 
useful  Collection  of  Sentences  in  Prose  and  Verse,  Divine,  Moral,  and 
Historical."  Many  of  these  "verses"  are  much  like  the  following: 
''Repentance,  though  it  is  not  to  be  rested  in  as  any  Satisfaction  for  Sin, 
or  any  Cause  of  the  Pardon  thereof,  which  is  the  Act  of  God's  free  Grace 
in  Christ;  yet  it  is  of  such  Necessity  to  all  Sinners,  that  none  may  expect 
Pardon  without  it"  (p.  130). 

Part  V  consists  wholly  of  "Forms  of  Prayer  for  Children,  on  several 
Occasions."  The  purpose  of  these  prayers,  according  to  the  preface,  is 
to  teach  the  pupils  "that  all  their  Dependence  is  on  God,  by  whom  we 
live,  and  move,  and  have  our  Being"  (p.  ix;  all  references  to  ed.  of  1773). 

The  year  1783  witnessed  the  first  spelling-book  by  an  American 
author.  It  bore  the  ponderous  title  of  The  First  Part  of  a  Grammatical 
Institute  of  the  English  Language,  by  Noah  Webster.  This  book  super- 
seded Dilworth's  Speller  and  for  a  time  outrivaled  all  competitors.  Its 
circulation  was  so  extensive  that  the  author,  during  the  twenty  years  he 
was  compiling  his  famous  dictionary,  was  able  handsomely  to  support 
himself  and  family  from  the  proceeds  of  its  sale,  although  his  premium 
was  less  than  one  cent  per  copy. 

From  the  point  of  view  of  religious  material,  Webster's  Speller  stands 
in  striking  contrast  with  Dilworth's.  The  former,  however,  while  pre- 
dominantly moral,  was  not  destitute  of  religious  instruction.  The  first 
43  pages  were  devoted  wholly  to  spelling.  At  this  point  reading  lessons 
are  interspersed.  The  following  is  an  example  of  its  religious  tone: 

"No  man  may  put  off  the  law  of  God; 
My  joy  is  in  his  law  all  the  day. 
O  may  I  not  go  in  the  way  of  sin! 
Let  me  not  go  in  the  way  of  ill  men"  (Johnson,  p.  176). 


ELEMENTARY-SCHOOL   BOOKS   OF   EIGHTEENTH   CENTURY  33 

The  last  twelve  pages  of  the  book  are  devoted  to  "A  Moral  Cate- 
chism." The  following  question  and  answer  may  be  considered  religious 
as  well  as  moral: 

"Q.  Is  pride  commendable? 

aA.  By  no  means.  A  modest,  self -approving  opinion  of  our  own 
good  deeds  is  very  right — it  is  natural — it  is  agreeable,  and  a  spur  to 
good  actions.  But  we  should  not  suffer  our  hearts  to  be  blown  up  with 
pride;  for  pride  brings  upon  us  the  ill-will  of  mankind,  and  displeasure 
of  our  Maker"  (Johnson,  p.  180). 

Speaking  of  the  changes  in  the  revised  edition  of  1829,  Clifton 
Johnson  says:  "The  Moral  Catechism  was  omitted,  and  so  were  the 
scattered  religious  and  ethical  lessons"  (p.  181). 

As  indicating  the  scarcity  of  elementary  readers  during  the  first  years 
of  the  nineteenth  century,  also  as  evidence  of  the  wide  use  at  that  time 
of  the  Testament  as  a  reading-book,  I  reproduce  a  part  of  the  preface  to 
Leavitt's  Easy  Lessons  in  Reading,  New  Hampshire,  1823:  "The 
compiler  has  been  excited  to  the  present  undertaking  by  representations 
that  there  is  no  reading  book  to  be  found  at  the  book  stores,  suitable  for 
young  children,  to  be  used  intermediately,  between  the  Spelling-Book 
and  the  English  or  American  Reader.  The  Testament  is  much  used  for 
this  purpose;  and  on  many  accounts,  it  is  admirably  adapted  for  a 
reading  book  in  schools.  But  it  is  respectfully  submitted  to  the  experi- 
ence of  judicious  teachers,  whether  the  peculiar  structure  of  scripture 
language  is  not  calculated  to  create  a  tone  ?  I  am  persuaded  it  would 
be  better  to  place  a  book  in  the  hands  of  learners,  written  in  a  more 
familiar  style"  (quoted  in  Johnson,  p.  240). 

The  Franklin  Primer  had  been  published  in  1802.  It  was  intended 
as  a  substitute  for  the  New  England  Primer,  "which  has  of  late  become 
almost  obsolete."  The  little  volume  contained  "a  variety  of  tables, 
moral  lessons  and  sentences,  a  concise  history  of  the  World,  appropriate 
Hymns,  and  Dr.  Watts  and  the  Assembly  of  Divines'  Catechisms" 
(Johnson,  p.  234). 

In  1808,  The  Child's  Instructor  was  published  at  Philadelphia.  The 
following  paragraphs  will  indicate  its  religious  tone: 

"  Good  boys  and  girls  go  to  church.  Do  you  go  to  church  ?  Billy 
went  to  church,  and  so  did  Betsey.  The  church  is  the  house  of  God; 
and  God  loves  little  children  when  they  go  to  church." 

"When  you  go  to  church  you  must  sit  still,  and  hear  what  the 
preacher  tells  you;  he  tells  you  to  be  good  children  and  love  your 
parents,  and  then  God  will  bless  you." 


34  RELIGIOUS   EDUCATION  IN  NEW  YORK  PUBLIC   SCHOOLS 

"Do  you  know  who  makes  it  rain?  I  will  tell  you:  God  makes  it 
rain.  You  see  that  dark  cloud  rising  in  the  west  ?  That  cloud  will  bring 
thunder  and  lightning  and  rain.  You  need  not  be  afraid;  God  makes  it 
thunder;  and  he  will  not  let  it  hurt  you  if  you  are  good  "  (Johnson,  p.  237). 

These  little  books  may  or  may  not  have  been  used  in  New  York  State. 
They  are  mentioned  here  to  indicate  the  spirit  of  the  times,  and  as 
illustrative  of  the  school  books  of  the  period. 

Two  very  popular  Advanced  Readers  were  published  by  Caleb 
Bingham,  Boston:  The  American  Preceptor,  1794,  and  The  Columbia 
Orator,  1797.  In  the  course  of  time  The  Columbia  Orator  displaced  the 
Bible  in  the  schools,  which  was  then  read  as  a  devotional  exercise  at  the 
opening  of  the  morning,  and  close  of  the  afternoon,  session  (Littlefield, 
p.  156). 

Clifton  Johnson  thus  describes  the  character  of  these  readers: 
"Most  of  the  early  reading  books  drew  their  material  largely  from 
British  sources,  and  American  contributions  were  for  a  long  time  mainly 
from  the  speeches  of  the  Revolutionary  orators.  Typical  subjects  were: 
Frailty  of  Life,  Benevolence  of  the  Deity,  Popery,  Rules  for  Moderating 
Our  Anger,  Reflections  on  Sun  Set,  Character  of  a  Truly  Polite  Man, 
The  Child  Trained  Up  for  the  Gallows.  These  and  the  rest  of  their 
kind  were  all  '  extracted  from  the  books  of  the  most  correct  and  elegant 
writers.'  The  books  were  also  pretty  sure  to  contain  selections  from  the 
Bible,  and  some  had  parts  of  sermons.  Indeed,  nearly  all  the  matter 
was  of  a  serious,  moral,  or  religious  character"  (p.  277). 

About  1790  Noah  Webster  published  a  reader,  called  The  Little 
Reader's  Assistant.  The  title-page  of  a  1791  edition  reads  in  part 
as  follows: 

"I.  A  number  of  Stories,  mostly  taken  from  the  history  of  America, 
and  adorned  with  Cuts. 

"II.  Rudiments  of  English  Grammar. 

"III.  A  Federal  Catechism,  being  a  short  and  easy  explanation  of 
the  Constitution  of  the  United  States. 

"IV.  General  Principles  of  Government  and  Commerce. 

"V.  The  Farmer's  Catechizm,  containing  plain  rules  of  husbandry" 
(Johnson,  p.  269). 

This  statement  of  the  contents  of  The  Little  Reader's  Assistant  offers 
not  the  slightest  suggestion  of  religious  material.  And  the  final  part, 
"The  Farmer's  Catechizm,"  would  perhaps  be  the  last  place  where  we 
should  expect  to  find  it.  The  following  question  and  answer  then  will 
be  somewhat  of  a  surprise: 


ELEMENTARY-SCHOOL  BOOKS   OF  EIGHTEENTH  CENTURY  35 

"Q.  Why  is  farming  the  most  innocent  employment? 

"A.  Because  farmers  have  fewer  temptations  to  be  wicked  than 
other  men.  They  live  much  by  themselves,  so  that  they  do  not  see  so 
many  bad  examples  as  men  in  cities  do.  They  have  but  little  dealings 
with  others,  so  that  they  have  fewer  opportunities  to  cheat  than  other 
classes  of  men.  Besides,  the  flocks  and  herds  which  surround  the 
farmer,  the  frolicks  of  the  harmless  lambs,  the  songs  of  the  cheerful  birds, 
and  the  face  of  nature's  works,  all  present  to  the  husbandman  examples 
of  innocence,  duty,  simplicity  and  order,  which  ought  to  impress  good 
sentiments  on  the  mind  and  lead  the  heart  to  God"  (quoted  in  Johnson, 
p.  276). 

Recollections  of  Fifty  Years  Since  (Astor  Library,  New  York),  by 
Ezekiel  Bacon,  constitutes  an  interesting  side  light  on  this  curriculum  of 
study.  Ezekiel  Bacon  was  born  in  Boston,  Massachusetts,  in  1776.  He 
was  graduated  from  Yale  College,  1794,  and  shortly  afterward  entered 
the  legal  profession.  In  1816  he  went  to  Utica,  New  York,  where  he 
remained  a  resident  until  his  death  in  1870.  He  represented  his  adopted 
state  in  the  legislature,  became  judge  of  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas,  and 
was  member  of  the  state  constitutional  convention  of  1821.  So,  while 
he  was  a  New  Englander  by  birth  and  training,  he  was  thoroughly 
identified  with  the  state  of  his  adoption,  and  acquainted  with  its  educa- 
tional history.  The  address  in  question  was  delivered  at  Utica,  1843,  to 
the  Young  Men's  Association  of  the  city  (Appleton's  Cyclopaedia  of 
American  Biography).  Recollections  of  fifty  years  since  that  date  take 
the  reader  back  to  the  close  of  the  previous  century.  Speaking  of  the 
common  schools,  Mr.  Bacon  says: 

"The  time  is  well  recollected  (for  the  speaker  was  one  of  the  subjects 
of  their  stinted  instructions)  when  little  beyond  Dillworth's  Spelling 
Book,  the  New  England  Primer,  teaching  by  a  double  process  the  first 
letter  of  the  alphabet,  and  the  first  doctrine  of  the  creed,  through  the 
instrumentality  of  the  first  poetical  distich  that  the  young  minstrels  of 
future  times  were  taught  to  jingle  together — 

'In  Adam's  fall 
We  sinned  all/ 

when  these  recondite  volumes,  together  with  the  Psalter,  and  in  process 
of  tune  and  intellectual  juvenile  development,  the  other  portions  of  the 
Bible,  constituted  about  the  whole  of  the  science  of  common  school 
reading  then  taught." 

To  this  was  added  writing  and  a  meager  amount  of  arithmetic. 


36  RELIGIOUS   EDUCATION  IN  NEW  YORK   PUBLIC   SCHOOLS 

This,  he  says,  was  the  general  range  and  grade  of  what  was  esteemed  to 
be  a  good  country  common-school  education  fifty  years  since. 

As  to  the  intellectual  education  of  the  female  portion  of  the  popula- 
tion during  the  last  century,  the  address  continues:  "How  little  more 
have  we  to  say  than  that  they  learned  at  their  transient  country  schools, 
taught  by  some  smart  spinster,  to  read  passably  in  the  Bible;  to  repeat 
there,  and  on  Saturday  or  Sunday  evenings  at  home,  the  Shorter  Cate- 
chism, which,  if  they  fully  understood  when  they  had  got  through  it, 
they  certainly  had  sharper  intellects  than  had  some  of  their  teachers;  to 
get  by  heart  Watt's  Spiritual  Songs;  scrawl  a  miserable  hand  writing; 
and  if  deemed  apt  proficients  and  ambitious  of  teaching  others  in  their 
turn,  to  dig  out  their  way  through  the  first  four  rules  of  Arithmetic." 

The  books  so  briefly  described  in  this  chapter  are  intended  to  illus- 
trate the  spirit  that  brooded  over  elementary  education  during  the  period 
under  consideration.  Some  of  them  may  not  have  been  used  in  New 
York,  but  the  books  used  in  that  province  could  not  have  been  essen- 
tially different.  They  contained  an  amount  of  religious  material,  and 
displayed  a  religious  spirit  and  motive  that  strike  astonishment  to  the 
investigator  of  the  present  day.  The  elementary-school  books  of  the 
eighteenth  century  therefore  make  an  important  contribution  to  our 
subject.  They  reinforce  the  arguments  and  make  strong  the  position 
advocated  in  the  chapters  gone  before,  that  religious  education  was 
incorporated  in  the  schools  of  the  State  and  City  of  New  York  from  the 
days  of  the  first  settlement  down  through  the  early  decades  of  the 
republic. 


PART  II 
RELIGIOUS  INSTRUCTION  EXCLUDED  FROM  THE  SCHOOLS 


CHAPTER  VI 
THE  RISING  CONSCIOUSNESS  OF  SECTARIANISM  IN  EDUCATION 

We  have  seen  how,  from  the  first  settlement  of  the  Province  of  New 
York,  public  education  was  carried  on  in  the  atmosphere  of  religion,  being 
actuated  by  the  religious  motive,  and  constituted  so  largely  of  religious 
material.  We  have  also  seen  the  spirit  and  purpose  of  religion  wrought 
into  the  foundations  of  the  common-school  system  of  the  state.  But  in 
the  closing  years  of  the  first  quarter  of  the  nineteenth  century  conditions 
arose  which  made  sectarian  education  a  problem  in  the  consciousness  of 
the  people,  and  which  were  destined  to  have  far-reaching  results  on  the 
final  solution  of  the  question.  It  is  the  purpose  of  the  present  chapter 
to  show  how  the  problem  arose  in  the  consciousness  of  the  people  and 
what  was  the  first  verdict  of  public  opinion  in  relation  to  the  subject. 

In  1813  the  legislature  passed  a  law  (for  basis  of  historical  statement 
following  see  Annual  Report  of  Free  School  Society,  1824)  specifying  the 
participants  of  the  school  fund  apportioned  to  the  City  of  New  York. 
The  organizations  named  were  the  Free  School  Society,  the  Orphan 
Asylum  Society,  the  Economical  School  Society,  the  African  Free  School, 
and  "such  incorporated  religious  societies  in  said  city,  as  now  support 
or  hereafter  shall  establish  Charity  Schools  within  the  said  city,  who 
may  apply  for  the  same"  (Laws  of  New  York,  36th  session,  p.  38).  Soon 
after  the  passage  of  this  law,  encouraged  by  its  proffer  to  "incorporated 
religious  societies,"  a  number  of  religious  bodies  in  the  city  established 
schools  and  were  admitted  to  participation  in  the  fund.  By  the  sixth 
section  of  the  law  the  several  societies  therein  named  participants  in  the 
fund  were  prohibited  from  using  any  portion  of  their  respective  shares  for 
any  purpose  except  the  payment  of  teachers. 

In  1817  the  legislature  passed  an  act  allowing  the  Free  School 
Society  the  privilege  of  using  what  surplus  there  might  be  left,  after  the 
payment  of  teachers,  to  the  erection  of  school  buildings,  the  education  of 
schoolmasters  on  the  Lancasterian  plan,  and  to  all  needful  purposes  of 
common-school  education.  This  special  privilege  was  granted  the  Free 
School  Society  because  it  had  been  organized  for  the  sole  purpose  of 
educating  the  poor,  and  because  its  property  must  ever  be  devoted  to 
this  object.  The  fact  that  the  Society  had  a  surplus,  after  the  payment 

39 


40  RELIGIOUS   EDUCATION   IN   NEW   YORK  PUBLIC   SCHOOLS 

of  teachers,  was  due  to  the  economy  of  the  Lancasterian  system  of 
instruction. 

In  1820  Bethel  Baptist  Church  opened  a  school  in  the  basement  of 
its  building,  in  Delancey  Street,  for  the  reception  of  poor  children  of  all 
denominations.  The  following  year  they  drew  from  the  school  fund  on 
basis  of  the  law  of  1813.  And  in  1822  the  trustees  of  the  said  church 
obtained  from  the  legislature  the  passage  of  a  law  allowing  them  the 
same  privilege,  which,  five  years  before,  had  been  granted  the  Free 
School  Society.  Alone  among  all  the  religious  societies,  this  church  now 
had  the  right  to  use  its  surplus  for  the  erection  of  new  buildings,  education 
of  teachers,  etc. 

The  passage  of  this  law  immediately  alarmed  the  trustees  of  the  Free 
School  Society,  and  also  a  number  of  religious  societies  in  the  city.  It 
was  believed  that  the  door  had  been  opened  wide  for  the  perversion  of 
the  school  fund,  that  the  church  receiving  the  privilege  above  mentioned 
would  be  strongly  induced  to  employ  poor  teachers  at  a  cheap  rate  in 
order  that  there  might  be  a  surplus  for  the  erection  of  buildings,  and 
that  the  buildings  thus  erected  would  belong  to  the  church  and  not  to 
the  public  and  would  probably  be  devoted  to  other  purposes  than  those 
of  the  education  of  poor  children.  On  account  of  this  alarm  memorials 
from  the  Free  School  Society,  from  trustees  of  a  number  of  church 
schools,  and  from  the  corporation  of  the  city  were  presented  to  the 
legislature  in  1823,  praying  the  repeal  of  that  section  of  the  law  which 
granted  special  privilege  to  Bethel  Baptist  Church. 

The  educational  project  of  Bethel  Church  was  working  injury  to  the 
Free  School  Society.  They  were  drawing  scholars  from  the  Society's 
schools  and  so  diminishing  its  share  of  the  school  fund,  which  was 
apportioned  to  each  school  according  to  the  number  of  scholars  taught. 
The  Bethel  schools  also  drew  large  amounts  of  the  fund  appropriated  to 
the  city,  thus  leaving  a  smaller  balance  to  be  divided  among  other 
institutions  of  the  city.  Notwithstanding  this,  the  free  schools  would 
have  continued  to  be  useful  and  the  Society  would  not  have  pressed  its 
opposition  to  the  Bethel  schools,  but  for  the  fact  that  other  denomina- 
tions began  to  manifest  a  disposition  to  follow  the  example  of  the  Bethel 
Church,  "to  the  extent  of  enlarging  their  schools,  so  as  to  receive  for 
instruction  poor  children  generally,  without  restricting  themselves  as 
heretofore,  to  those  of  their  own  particular  congregations.  A  school  of 
this  discription  has  been  opened  in  Grace  Church,  under  the  pastoral 
care  of  Rev.  Mr.  Wainwright;  another  for  the  education  of  female 
children,  by  the  Congregational  Church  in  Chamber-street;  and  a  third 


RISING  CONSCIOUSNESS   OF   SECTARIANISM  IN  EDUCATION  41 

will  soon  be  opened  by  the  Dutch  Church,  in  the  large  rooms  in  Harmony 
Hall,  at  the  corner  of  William,  in  Duane-street "  (Nineteenth  Annual 
Report  of  the  Free  School  Society). 

The  Free  School  Society  was  now  no  longer  satisfied  with  the  repeal 
of  the  special  privilege  granted  to  the  Bethel  Baptist  Church,  but  began 
to  advocate  a  law  restricting  all  church  schools  to  the  poor  children  con- 
nected with  their  respective  congregations.  At  this  time  also  the  Society 
began  to  advocate  the  view  that  the  school  fund  was  purely  of  a  civil 
character  and  for  a  civil  purpose,  and  that  it  should  never  go  into  the 
hands  of  an  ecclesiastical  body  or  religious  society.  This  position  was 
unanimously  indorsed  by  the  city  corporation,  mayor,  and  aldermen, 
and  also  by  a  number  of  clergymen  and  boards  of  trustees  of  religious 
societies  in  the  city  (for  the  basis  of  the  historical  statement  given  thus 
far,  see  Annual  Report  of  the  Free  School  Society,  April  30,  1824). 

As  the  result  of  the  activity  of  the  Free  School  Society  the  legislature 
passed  a  law,  November  19,  1824  (Laws  of  New  York,  p.  338,  sec.  IV), 
conferring  upon  the  Common  Council  of  the  City  of  New  York  the  right 
to  name  the  schools  which  should  be  allowed  to  participate  in  the  school 
fund.  The  scenes  of  conflict  were  thus  transferred  from  Albany  to  the 
Council  Chamber  of  the  city  corporation. 

The  church  schools  had  made  a  hard  fight.  Their  representatives  at 
Albany  had  exhausted  every  argument  to  ward  off  the  repeal  of  the 
privileges  which  had  been  granted  them  (Bourne,  History  of  Public  School 
Society,  p.  73).  They  were  equally  insistent  in  presenting  their  claims 
to  the  Common  Council,  when  the  matter  was  brought  before  that  body 
in  1825.  Memorials  were  presented  to  the  Council  from  the  trustees  of 
the  charity  schools  attached  to  the  Reformed  Protestant  Dutch  Church, 
the  First  Protestant  Episcopal  Charity  School,  the  trustees  of  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  and  the  trustees  of  St.  Patrick's  Cathedral 
and  St.  Peter's  Church.  (These  memorials  may  be  found  in  Archives  of 
New  York  City-Hall,  Collection  of  April  n,  1825.)  There  was  consider- 
able feeling  against  the  Free  School  Society,  as  is  shown  by  the  following 
extract  from  the  memorial  of  the  Reformed  Protestant  Dutch  Church: 

"  That  from  a  law  passed  by  the  Legislature  of  this  state  at  their  last 
extra  session,  your  Memorialists  perceive  that  your  honorable  Board 
have  the  power  to  designate  the  institutions  or  schools,  which  shall  be 
entitled  to  receive  any  portion  of  the  Common  School  Fund,  and  to 
prescribe  the  limitations  and  restrictions  under  which  it  shall  be  received. 

"From  other  unquestionable  sources,  your  Memorialists  have  also 
learnt,  that  strenuous  and  indefatigable  efforts  have  been,  and  still  are 


42  RELIGIOUS   EDUCATION  IN  NEW  YORK  PUBLIC   SCHOOLS 

making,  in  a  certain  quarter,  under  the  pleasing,  though  fallacious  mask 
of  unlimited  philanthropy,  to  monopolize  to  themselves  the  exclusive 
right  of  educating  the  poor.  To  subserve  this  end  they  have  not  been 
content  to  exhibit  to  the  public  view  what  has  been  and  what  might  be 
the  extent  of  their  own  labors  in  the  field  of  gratuitous  education — they 
have  attempted  to  prostrate  the  claims  of  their  competitors,  by  con- 
descending indiscriminately  to  brand  them  with  odious  epithets,  and  to 
undervalue  their  usefulness,  by  representations  not  consistent  with  a 
strict  narrative  of  truth." 

The  memorials  of  the  trustees  of  the  First  Protestant  Episcopal 
Charity  School  is  not  so  bitter  in  its  insinuations,  but  just  as  strong  in 
its  advocacy  of  what  it  considers  to  be  the  rights  of  the  people  for  whom 
it  speaks.  They  wish  to  receive  from  the  public  fund  according  to  the 
statute  of  1813,  and  should  any  deviation  from  this  plan  be  sanctioned, 
they  have,  they  think,  special  claim  for  consideration.  Their  school 
dates  back  to  1711,  being,  they  think,  the  first  establishment  for  gra- 
tuitous instruction  in  the  city.  It  has  extended  useful  education  to 
multitudes  of  poor  children  connected  with  the  parish  of  Trinity  Church. 
They  had  been  admitted  to  participation  in  the  public  fund  at  the 
passage  of  the  law  in  1813,  and  this  assistance  had  enabled  them  to 
double  their  accommodations.  They  believe  the  portion  of  the  public 
fund  fallen  to  them  has  been  "faithfully,  efficiently,  and  exclusively 
applied,  as  required  by  the  Act  which  granted  it."  They  therefore  beg 
to  be  included  in  the  schools  named  to  receive  the  public  bounty. 

The  other  memorialists  were  equally  insistent  in  their  claim  to  receive 
a  part  of  the  school  fund,  as  a  matter  of  right. 

The  spirit  and  purpose  of  the  Free  School  Society  seem  to  be  fairly 
represented  by  the  following  paragraph  from  a  memorial  addressed  to 
the  legislature  at  the  regular  session  of  1824:  "  Your  memorialists  believe 
that  this  amendment  of  the  existing  law  is  recommended  by  many  con- 
siderations of  sound  policy;  and,  among  these,  not  the  least  is,  that  the 
interests  of  the  whole  Christian  community  will  be  best  promoted  by 
encouraging  the  principle  that  each  religious  society  is  bound  to  provide 
for  the  education  of  their  own  poor  children,  and  that,  if  they  attempt 
to  do  more,  they  ought  to  do  it  at  their  own  expense,  and  not  to  look  to 
the  funds  of  the  State  for  assistance"  (Bourne,  p.  69). 

The  minutes  of  the  Common  Council  of  the  city  of  New  York  for 
April  n,  1825,  contain  the  following  item:  "The  Committee  on  Laws  to 
whom  had  been  referred  the  fourth  section  of  the  Act  of  Legislature 


RISING  CONSCIOUSNESS   OF   SECTARIANISM  IN  EDUCATION  43 

relating  to  Common  Schools  in  this  City  passed  igth  November  1824 
together  with  sundry  memorials  on  the  subject  presented  a  report  which 
was  read  and  the  consideration  thereof  postponed.  It  was  ordered  that 
three  hundred  Copies  of  the  Report  and  fifty  Copies  of  the  Law  reported 
by  the  Committee  be  printed  in  pamphlet  form  for  the  use  of  the  Mem- 
bers" (vol.  53,  p.  346,  New  York  City-Hall  Library). 

The  matter  was  finally  taken  up  by  the  Council,  April  28,  1825,  and 
the  law  reported  by  the  committee  was  passed.  The  first  section  of  this 
law  was  to  the  following  effect:  " Be  it  ordained  by  the  Mayor,  Aldermen 
and  Commonality  of  the  City  of  New  York  in  Common  Council  con- 
vened, Pursuant  to  the  authority  vested  in  them,  by  the  act  of  the 
Legislature  of  the  State  of  New  York,  entitled  An  Act  Relating  to  Common 
Schools  in  the  City  of  New  York,  passed  November  igth,  1824,  that  the 
institutions,  which  shall  be  entitled  to  receive  of  the  Commissioners  of 
the  Common  School  Fund,  payable  to  and  raised  in  the  said  City,  are 
hereby  designated  to  be,  The  Free  School  Society  of  New  York,  The 
Mechanics'  Society,  The  Orphan  Asylum  Society,  and  the  Trustees  of 
the  African  Free  School"  (Minutes  of  the  Common  Council,  vol.  54,  p. 
100,  New  York  City-Hall  Library). 

The  report  of  the  Committee  on  Laws,  to  which  was  referred  the  act 
of  the  legislature,  relative  to  the  distribution  of  the  school  fund  in  New 
York  City,  and  which  was  presented  to  the  Council,  April  n,  1825,  as 
stated  in  the  minutes  cited  above,  is  a  document  of  the  greatest  impor- 
tance. (The  original  copy  is  in  the  Custodian's  office,  New  York  City- 
Hall.  There  is  also  a  printed  copy  in  the  possession  of  the  Astor  Library, 
New  York  City,  and  a  reprint  in  the  appendix  to  Bourne's  history.) 
This  committee  heard  both  sides  of  the  great  question  and  its  report  gives 
a  summary  of  the  argument,  which  is  invaluable  to  the  historian.  As  to 
the  fulness  with  which  the  subject  was  discussed  in  their  presence,  the 
committee  reports  as  follows:  "The  various  institutions,  which  have 
been  established  for,  or  have  undertaken  from  the  best  of  motives,  the 
relief  of  this  portion  of  our  inhabitants  (poor  children),  have  been  rep- 
resented before  your  committee,  and  their  respective  claims  to  a  par- 
ticipation in  the  public  bounty,  have  been  urged  on  the  part  of  their 
delegates,  by  all  the  obligations  and  motives,  which  could  be  drawn  from 
the  sources  of  piety  and  philanthropy,  and  with  all  the  force  and  energy 
of  the  most  persuasive  eloquence,  and  the  most  cogent  argument." 

The  institutions  in  question,  the  report  continues,  are  of  two  classes: 
the  churches  and  religious  societies,  many  of  which  maintain  charity 


44  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION  IN  NEW  YORK  PUBLIC   SCHOOLS 

schools;  and  societies  whose  members  belong  to  the  various  denomina- 
tions and  whose  sole  object  is  the  gratuitous  education  of  the  poor,  the 
chief  of  which  was  the  Free  School  Society. 

On  behalf  of  the  churches,  the  committee  affirms,  it  has  been  main- 
tained that  their  charity  schools  are  of  long  standing,  that  they  have 
enjoyed  the  fostering  care  of  the  legislature,  that  the  children  are  taught 
the  usual  elementary  branches  with  an  efficiency  comparable  to  that  of 
the  other  institutions.  It  is  emphasized  also  that  in  the  church  schools 
the  children  receive  the  advantages  of  religious  instruction,  and  that  for 
this  the  churches  receive  no  compensation.  It  is  urged  also,  in  this 
connection,  that  religion  is  the  only  foundation  of  private  happiness, 
sound  morality,  and  capacity  for  public  usefulness.  They  deny  any 
intention  of  promoting  sectarian  influences,  but  affirm  that  no  religious 
instruction  can  be  given  without  taking  some  specific  form  or  system, 
and  thus,  to  some  extent,  becoming  sectarian,  and  "that  it  is  better  to 
have  a  community  of  conscientious  sectarians  than  a  community  of 
nothing-arians." 

The  advocates  of  the  churches  further  insist  that  their  schools,  like 
those  under  the  lay  corporations,  will  be  subject  to  constant  supervision 
on  the  part  of  the  city  commissioners,  that  there  should  be  no  danger  of 
a  church  establishment  on  account  of  the  assistance  they  receive  from 
the  state,  inasmuch  as  the  rendering  of  such  assistance  is  altogether 
different  from  endowing  or  intrusting  them  with  public  funds,  without  .a 
specified  object.  No  such  danger,  it  was  claimed,  is  felt  by  the  general 
or  state  government  from  the  habit  of  employing  chaplains.  They  affirm 
also  the  impossibility  of  giving  religious  instruction  in  the  homes  of  the 
class  of  children  who  attend  the  charity  schools,  that  the  trustees  of  the 
Free  Schools  are  conscious  of  this  and  so  teach  the  children  under  their 
care  some  religion:  "but  of  that  kind  and  in  that  degree  which  is  calcu- 
lated to  meet  the  views  of  numerous  and  influential  sects  of  Christians." 
The  delegates  of  the  churches  therefore  contend  that  "this  sectarian 
tendency,  if  it  be  an  evil,  is  now  kept  within  reasonable  limits,  by 
encouraging  all  religious  denominations  alike — whereas  by  placing  its 
now  divided  forces,  into  a  more  concentrated  form,  its  native  intensity 
would  be  excited,  and  the  consequences  would  be  fatal  to  the  body  or 
association  which  it  might  infect." 

On  behalf  of  the  lay  corporations,  formed  indiscriminately  of  all 
religious  persuasions,  it  is  insisted,  according  to  the  committee,  that  the 
school  fund,  soon  to  become  very  large,  should  not  in  any  degree  be 
placed  under  clerical  influence.  The  convention  of  1777,  or  that  of 


RISING  CONSCIOUSNESS   OF   SECTARIANISM  IN  EDUCATION  45 

1821,  would  never  have  sanctioned  a  proposition  to  tax  the  people  for 
the  support  of  religion,  and  the  Common  Council  should  now  profit  by 
their  example  and  be  guided  by  the  same  spirit.  For  the  churches  to 
participate  in  the  public  fund  would  be  in  violation  of  that  prevalent  rule 
of  civil  policy,  which  forbids  all  connection  between  matters  of  church 
and  state.  It  is  further  maintained  that  a  part  of  this  fund  is  raised  by 
tax,  and  that  any  portion  of  it  turned  into  sectarian  channels  would 
compel  one  portion  of  the  community,  contrary  to  its  wishes,  to  support 
the  religious  convictions  of  another  portion  of  the  community;  that  to 
pay  teachers  of  sectarian  schools  from  this  fund  in  no  sense  differs  from 
paying  the  clergymen  of  their  congregations.  When  we  are  told  that 
religion  is  taught  in  the  church  schools,  it  must  be  remembered  that  the 
catechisms  and  confessions  of  the  churches  are  taught,  and  that  these 
various  creeds  and  dogmas  cannot  be  all  equally  true  and  equally  entitled 
to  support.  Preference  therefore  should  be  given  the  system  which 
seems  the  best,  and  public  support  wholly  denied  all  others.  Any  other 
plan  would  involve  unjust  and  unjustifiable  taxation.  But  no  such 
discrimination  is  possible.  The  principles  that  would  admit  one  to 
the  public  bounty  would  admit  all  alike.  In  this  connection,  "it  is 
strongly  urged  that  true  religion  requires  and  admits  of  no  aid  from  the 
secular  power;  that  her  only  resources  are  from  Heaven  and  the  con- 
tribution of  willing  hearts;  that  she  seeks  only  for  protection  and  not 
for  support;  and  that  the  arm  of  the  state,  though  strong,  has  no  potency 
or  legitimate  control  beyond  such  protection."  It  is  further  maintained 
that  the  school  fund  is  purely  of  a  civil  character  and  should  not  be 
allowed  to  pass  into  the  hands  of  any  corporation  not  answerable  to  the 
civil  authorities,  and  that  it  would  be  "  a  violation  of  a  fundamental 
principle  of  legislation,  to  allow  the  funds  of  the  state,  raised  by  a  tax 
on  the  citizens,  designed  for  civil  purposes,  to  be  subject  to  the  control 
of  any  religious  corporation." 

It  was  also  contended  on  the  part  of  the  lay  corporations  that  they 
caused  to  be  communicated  to  their  pupils  reading  lessons  and  catechisms, 
in  the  original  language  of  the  Bible,  and  such  familiar  aspects  of  human 
duty  as  children  can  best  understand.  Specific  sectarian  instruction  is 
left  to  parents  and  churches  and  Sunday  schools. 

These  are  among  the  chief  arguments  presented  by  the  lay  corpora- 
tions in  opposition  to  the  religious  societies  in  order  to  prevent  their 
participation  in  the  school  fund. 

The  attitude  of  the  committee  toward  the  subject  referred  to  them  is 
very  sympathetically  expressed  in  the  following  paragraphs: 


46  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION  IN  NEW  YORK  PUBLIC  SCHOOLS 

"Your  Committee  have  thus,  with  a  single  desire  of  truth,  laid  before 
the  Common  Council,  the  result  of  their  inquiries,  and  the  substance  of 
the  communications  that  have  been  made  to  them. 

"In  the  performance  of  this  duty,  they  have  felt  all  the  importance 
and  responsibility  of  the  task  assigned  to  them,  and  while  they  would 
willingly  have  retired  from  the  appointment,  and  do  each  individually 
wish,  that  the  Legislature  had  passed  the  necessary  law  on  this  subject, 
on  the  recent  application  to  them  for  that  purpose,  yet  your  Committee 
cannot  permit  themselves  to  hesitate  or  falter  in  the  course  of  public 
duty,  when  that  course  is  plainly  manifest  to  their  understandings. 
Your  Committee  will  not  conceal,  either,  their  own  private  and  personal 
wishes,  at  the  commencement  of  their  duties,  that  the  well-organized 
churches  and  religious  societies  in  our  city,  might  be  permitted  to  con- 
tinue in  the  reception  of  a  part  of  this  fund  as  heretofore.  But  the 
weight  of  the  argument,  as  urged  before  them,  and  which  they  have 
endeavored  to  condense  in  this  report,  and  the  established  constitutiona, 
and  political  doctrines  which  have  a  bearing  on  this  question,  and  the 
habits  and  modes  of  thinking  of  the  constituents  at  large  of  this  Board 
require,  in  the  opinion  of  your  Committee,  that  the  Common  School 
Fund  should  be  distributed  for  civil  purposes  only,  as  contradistinguished 
from  those  of  a  religious  or  sectarian  description." 

The  action  of  the  Common  Council  has  already  been  stated.  The 
recommendation  of  the  committee  was  adopted  and  an  ordinance  passed, 
denying  the  church  schools  any  further  participation  in  the  public  fund. 
This  result  had  not  been  foreseen  by  the  Free  School  Society  when  it  took 
up  the  controversy  against  the  Bethel  Baptist  Church.  The  problem 
involved  in  state  support  of  church  schools  had  only  gradually  taken 
shape  in  the  minds  of  the  people.  The  state  legislature  on  April  8,  1801, 
had  passed  an  act  dividing  the  school  money  of  the  city  among  its  differ- 
ent religious  denominations  to  be  invested  by  them,  the  annual  interest 
to  be  used  in  the  maintenance  of  schools.  And  there  had  been  no  ques- 
tion of  the  propriety  of  the  charity  schools  under  church  supervision 
drawing  from  the  public  bounty.  Without  a  challenge  they  had  enjoyed 
this  advantage  from  the  first  passage  of  the  law  in  1813.  Nor  was  there 
any  thought  of  the  discontinuance  of  this  mode  of  procedure  until  the 
controversy  with  Bethel  Baptist  Church  was  already  far  advanced. 
There  seems  to  have  been  three  stages  in  this  awakening  of  consciousness. 
In  the  first  place,  on  account  of  the  special  privilege  granted  them  by 
the  legislature,  the  Bethel  Schools  were  working  injury  to  the  schools  of 
the  Free  School  Society.  The  first  effort  therefore  was  for  the  repeal  of 


RISING  CONSCIOUSNESS   OF   SECTARIANISM  IN  EDUCATION  47 

this  special  privilege.  Apparently,  as  yet,  there  was  no  thought  of  ask- 
ing the  legislature  to  withdraw  support  from  church  schools.  But 
Bethel  Church  contended  earnestly  for  the  vantage  ground  already 
gained,  and  other  churches  manifested  a  disposition  to  follow  her  example 
and  to  extend  their  school  work  beyond  the  borders  of  their  respective 
congregations.  This  induced  the  Free  School  Society  to  take  the  second 
step  forward,  and  to  ask  the  legislature  to  limit  church  schools  to  the 
children  of  their  respective  congregations.  It  was  just  at  this  stage  of 
the  controversy  that  the  Free  School  Society  began  to  express  the  opinion 
that  to  allow  church  schools  participation  in  the  public  fund  had  been  a 
mistake  from  the  beginning,  that  a  fund  raised  for  civil  purposes  should 
not  be  placed  at  the  disposal  of  a  religious  organization.  As  the  appre- 
hension of  this  principle  took  definite  shape  in  consciousness,  the  contro- 
versy reached  its  third  and  final  stage.  A  strict  application  of  the 
principle  of  religious  liberty  had  prostrated  the  claims  of  the  churches. 
The  opinion  of  the  law  committee  that  the  "Common  School  Fund 
should  be  distributed  for  civil  purposes  only"  was  enacted  into  law,  and 
thus  was  completed  the  first  chapter  in  the  exclusion  of  religious  educa- 
tion from  the  public  schools  of  the  State  and  City  of  New  York. 


CHAPTER  VII 
THE  FINAL  LEGAL  STATUS  OF  SECTARIAN  INSTRUCTION 

Among  the  church  schools  excluded  from  the  public  bounty  in  1825 
was  the  Roman  Catholic'  Benevolent  Society.  It  was  hardly  to  be 
expected  that  the  verdict  of  the  Common  Council  on  that  occasion 
would  be  accepted  as  final.  Catholic  persistence  is  too  well  known. 
We  are  not  surprised  then  that  six  years  later,  March,  1831,  the  Catholic 
Benevolent  Society  applied  to  the  Council  for  a  part  of  the  public  fund 
to  assist  in  the  support  of  its  Orphan  Asylum  School.  Encouraged  by 
this  movement  of  the  Catholics,  the  trustees  of  the  Methodist  Charity 
School  presented  a  similar  application  later  on  in  the  same  month 
(Bourne,  pp.  124  f.).  According  to  the  proceedings  of  the  Board  of 
Aldermen,  August  3,  1831,  the  ordinance  of  July  14,  1828,  relative  to  the 
distribution  of  the  common-school  fund,  was  revived  and  re-enacted. 
The  f ollowing  amendment  was  also  adopted  with  a  majority  of  one  vote : 
"To  add  to  the  number  of  Societies  or  Schools  named  in  said  law,  the 
New  York  Catholic  Benevolent  Society;  which  additional  Society  shall 
be  entitled  to  a  portion  of  the  Common  School  money,  for  such  orphan 
children  as  are  or  shall  be  taught  in  the  school,  and  maintained  in  the 
Orphan  Asylum  House,  in  Prince  street,  at  the  expense  of  said  Society; 
and  the  said  school  be  subject  moreover  to  all  the  provisions,  limitations 
and  restrictions,  recited  and  prescribed  in  and  by  said  ordinance" 
(Proceedings  of  the  Board  of  Aldermen,  I,  256). 

This  enactment  was  then  sent  to  the  Board  of  Assistants  for  its 
concurrence,  and  was  referred  by  it  to  the  law  committee.  The  report 
of  this  committee  was  received  September  19,  1831,  and  attempted  to 
deal  with  the  constitutionality  of  the  ordinance  as  passed  by  the  Board 
of  Aldermen  (Board  of  Assistants,  Doc.  XXI,  September  19,  1831). 
According  to  the  report  the  constitution  of  the  state,  1821,  provides  that 
the  school  fund  "shall  be  inviolably  appropriated  and  applied  to  the 
support  of  common  schools  throughout  this  State."  The  question  then 
to  be  decided  was,  What  is  a  common  school  ?  The  law  committee  gave 
the  following  answer  to  this  question:  "A  school  to  be  common  ought  to 
be  open  to  all,  and  those  branches  of  Education,  and  those  only,  ought  to 
be  taught  in  it,  which  tend  to  prepare  a  child  for  the  ordinary  business 

48 


FINAL  LEGAL  STATUS  OF  SECTARIAN  INSTRUCTION        49 

of  life.  If  religion  be  taught  in  a  school  it  strips  it  of  one  of  the  char- 
acteristics of  a  Common  School,  as  all  religious  and  sectarian  studies 
have  a  direct  reference  to  a  future  state,  and  are  not  necessary  to  prepare 
a  child  for  the  Mechanical  or  any  other  business.  No  school  can  be 
common  unless  parents  of  all  religious  sects,  Mohammedans  and  Jews, 
as  well  as  Christians,  can  send  their  children  to  it,  to  receive  the  benefits 
of  an  education  without  doing  violence  to  their  religious  belief. 

"Your  Committee  cannot,  therefore,  find  a  more  correct  and  accurate 
definition  of  the  term  Common  School,  than  to  call  it  a  school  in  which 
nothing  but  the  rudiments  of  an  English  education  are  taught  to  all  who 
are  admitted  to  it,  which  is  open  to  every  child  that  applies  for  admis- 
sion, and  into  which  all  can  be  admitted  without  doing  violence  to  their 
religious  opinions,  or  those  of  their  parents  or  guardians." 

In  the  light  of  this  definition  the  report  of  the  law  committee  passes 
on  to  speak  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Benevolent  Society.  It  is  considered 
to  have  strong  marks  of  sectarianism  about  it.  Regular  membership  in 
the  Society  is  confined  to  Catholics,  and  its  government  is  exclusively 
under  the  direction  of  that  religious  sect.  And  although  the  organization 
is  open  for  the  reception  of  destitute  and  unprotected  orphans  without 
any  distinctions,  yet  all  participants  of  its  bounty  "are  exclusively 
instructed  in  the  doctrines  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Religion." 

The  constitution  of  the  state,  the  report  continues,  guarantees  to  all 
mankind,  without  discrimination  or  preference,  the  free  exercise  and 
enjoyment  of  religious  profession  and  worship.  This  is  a  recognition  of 
complete  religious  freedom,  so  long  as  its  exercise  does  not  appear  incon- 
sistent with  the  peace  and  safety  of  the  state.  The  appropriation  of  the 
public  funds  therefore  to  the  support  of  the  schools  which  teach  the 
doctrines  and  tenets  of  religious  sectarianism  seems  a  palpable  violation 
of  the  constitution.  The  attempt  to  raise  by  taxation  a  fund  for  the 
support  of  any  religious  sect  would  unhesitatingly  be  denounced  as  an 
infringement  of  the  chartered  rights  of  the  people.  But  there  seems  to 
be  no  difference  in  principle  whether  such  a  fund  be  raised  for  the  support 
of  a  particular  church,  or  for  the  school  in  which  the  doctrines  of  that 
church  are  taught  as  a  part  of  the  system  of  education.  In  one  case,  a 
regular  ordained  ministry  is  paid  for  its  instruction  from  the  pulpit;  in 
the  other,  teachers  are  paid  for  the  same  kind  of  lessons,  delivered  in  a 
different  manner. 

It  is  the  opinion  of  the  committee  that  the  school  fund  should  be  so 
disposed  that  all  denominations,  Jews,  Deists,  and  unbelievers  of  every 
sect  may  derive  the  benefits  thereof  without  doing  violence  to  their  con- 


50  RELIGIOUS   EDUCATION  IN   NEW   YORK  PUBLIC   SCHOOLS 

sciences.  It  is  poor  consolation  to  be  able  to  hold  whatever  religious 
views  one  wishes,  while  at  the  same  time  compelled  to  support  doctrines 
to  which  one  is  diametrically  opposed. 

To  admit  asylums  to  the  public  bounty  will,  the  committee  thinks, 
open  the  school  fund  to  any  institution  where  children  are  taught 
gratuitously,  and  so  to  every  phase  of  religious  opinion  and  infidelity. 
This  would  be  hi  direct  violation  of  the  principle  established  by  the 
Common  Council  in  1825,  denying  participation  in  the  public  fund  to  all 
sectarian  schools  and  institutions.  The  disregard  of  that  principle  now 
will  give  rise  to  a  religious  and  antireligious  party,  and  the  union  of  the 
church  and  state  will  be  fostered.  Taxation  for  the  support  of  religion 
is  contrary  to  the  constitution,  and  in  violation  of  conscientious  scruples. 

So  the  committee  reported  the  ordinance  referred  to  it  as  unconsti- 
tutional, and  recommended  that  it  be  so  amended  as  to  exclude  from 
participation  in  the  school  fund  all  institutions  not  comprised  under  the 
definition  of  "common  school"  as  given  above.  This  of  course  meant 
the  exclusion  of  the  Roman  Catholic  Benevolent  Society. 

Nevertheless  the  recommendation  of  the  committee  was  not  adopted. 
The  Board  of  Assistants  concurred  in  the  ordinance  which  had  already 
passed  the  Board  of  Aldermen,  and  the  measure  became  a  law.  The 
Roman  Catholic  Benevolent  Society  had  won  its  contention.  To  this 
extent  the  law  of  1825  had  been  repudiated,  but  the  Council  justified 
itself  in  the  view  of  the  public  by  urging  as  an  exception  the  peculiar 
nature  of  an  orphan  asylum.  As  a  verification  of  this  statement,  and  so 
indicating  the  attitude  of  the  Public  School  Society,  relative  to  the 
question  under  consideration,  the  following  extract  from  its  annual 
report  for  1832  (p.  6)  is  suggestive: 

"  It  has  again  become  necessary  to  advert  to  the  strenuous  and  con- 
tinued efforts  that  are  making  to  obtain  a  diversion  of  a  portion  of  the 
school  tax  from  the  legitimate  object  for  which  it  is  raised,  to  the  support 
of  church  and  sectarian  schools.  During  the  past  year,  the  Catholic 
Orphan  Asylum  Society,  applied  to  the  Corporation  to  be  admitted 
among  the  recipients  of  this  fund.  The  application  was  opposed  by  the 
Trustees  of  the  Public  Schools,  on  the  ground  so  often,  and  heretofore  so 
successfully  urged.  Nevertheless  this  case  was  deemed  an  exception  to 
the  general  rule,  and  admitted  accordingly.  The  committee  of  the 
Corporation  to  whom  the  application  was  referred,  [this  was  before  the 
Board  of  Aldermen.]  hi  their  report  on  the  subject,  fully  acknowledged 
the  soundness  of  the  'cardinal  principles'  adopted  in  the  law  of  1825, 
which  went  entirely  to  exclude  Church  and  Sectarian  Schools  from  any 


FINAL   LEGAL   STATUS   OF   SECTARIAN  INSTRUCTION  51 

participation  in  this  Fund,  but  urged  the  peculiar  character  of  an  Orphan 
Asylum,  as  presenting  a  strong  claim  on  public  sympathy  and  support. 
....  The  claims  of  an  Institution  so  meritorious  as  the  one  in  question, 
might  have  prevented  opposition,  had  it  not  been  for  the  pressing  con- 
viction, that  the  admission  of  the  Asylum  would  induce  others,  under 
circumstances  entirely  dissimilar,  to  renew  their  applications  for  a  por- 
tion of  School  Money.  This  consideration  was  urged  upon  the  Corpora- 
tion— but  was  met  with  the  assurance  that  the  full  recognition  of  the 
correctness  of  the  'cardinal  principles'  established  by  the  law  of  1825,  as 
set  forth  in  the  report  of  its  committee,  forbid  any  hope  of  success  on  the 
part  of  Church  Schools." 

The  apprehensions  of  the  Public  School  Society,  relative  to  the 
probable  activity  of  other  church  schools,  were  not  without  foundation. 
The  application  of  the  Methodists  for  their  charity  school  had  not  been 
granted  by  the  Common  Council.  But  now,  encouraged  by  the  success- 
ful petitions  of  the  Catholics  for  their  orphan  asylum,  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  made  application,  in  behalf  of  the  orphan  and  destitute 
children  attending  the  school  under  its  management,  for  a  participation 
in  the  school  fund.  This  petition  was  on  the  point  of  being  granted, 
when  the  earnest  protests  of  the  Public  School  Society  came  in  to  prevent 
its  culmination  (Annual  Report  of  Public  School  Society,  1832,  p.  7). 

The  position  of  the  Public  School  Society  in  its  opposition  to  the 
Catholic  Benevolent  Society  is  well  denned  in  the  address  of  the  former 
to  the  public,  giving  the  reasons  for  its  remonstrances  against  the  petition 
of  the  Roman  Catholic  Benevolent  Society  for  admission  to  a  common 
participation  in  the  school  fund  (quoted  in  Bourne,  p.  127).  The 
petition  of  the  Catholics  is  considered  contrary  to  the  fundamental  prin- 
ciples of  liberty  and  equal  rights,  and  to  the  constitution  of  the  state. 
The  power  of  taxing  the  whole  community  is  given  for  the  benefit  of  the 
whole  community,  and  so  far  as  possible  the  benefits  procured  by  such 
taxation  should  be  enjoyed  by  all.  The  city  corporation  has  no  right  to 
constitute  a  privileged  class,  however  benevolent  it  may  be.  But  the 
society  in  question  is  a  closed  corporation — its  membership  is  exclusively 
Roman  Catholic,  and  its  beneficiaries  practically  confined  to  that 
denomination.  Furthermore  it  is  contended  that  the  system  of  educa- 
tion at  this  institution  is  so  combined  with  religious  instruction  as  to 
deter,  from  conscientious  scruples,  many  parents  and  guardians  from 
taking  advantage  of  the  opportunities  it  offers.  Notwithstanding  these 
very  persons  may  be  taxed  for  the  support  of  the  institution  in  question. 
"But  the  objection  to  this  principle  extends  much  further;  it  embraces 


52  RELIGIOUS   EDUCATION  IN  NEW  YORK  PUBLIC   SCHOOLS 

all,  of  every  persuasion,  who  have  conscientious  scruples  about  paying 
their  money  for  the  support  of  any  particular  faith  or  who,  if  they  have 
not  such  scruples,  derive  no  benefit  from  the  expenditure,  and  regard  it 
as  an  abuse." 

The  further  statement  is  made  that  while  there  were  many  reasons, 
in  1825,  why  one  harmonious  system  of  education,  under  the  direction  of 
one  body  of  men,  was  to  be  preferred  to  "incongruous  and  irresponsible 
institutions,"  it  was  none  of  these  that  procured  the  victory  over  sec- 
tarian views,  which  brought  about  the  revolution  that  eventuated. 
"That  proceeded  from  the  conviction  that  the  school  fund  ought  not  to 
be  diverted,  in  whole  or  in  part,  to  the  purposes  of  sectarian  instruction, 
but  should  be  kept  sacred  to  the  great  object,  emphatically  called 
COMMON  EDUCATION." 

It  appears  then  that,  while  the  Roman  Catholic  Benevolent  Society 
was  admitted  to  a  participation  in  the  school  fund,  it  was  the  orphanage 
plea  that  won  consideration.  The  principle  of  religious  liberty,  so 
warmly  advocated  by  the  Public  School  Society,  was  admitted  by  the 
Board  of  Aldermen,  and  recognized  by  that  body  as  still  in  force.  The 
"cardinal  principles"  of  1825,  denying  to  church  schools  the  right  of 
participation  in  the  school  fund,  were  still  unchallenged  by  the  law- 
making  powers. 

Nearly  ten  years  elapsed  before  the  attention  of  the  public  was  again 
focused  on  the  question  of  sectarian  education.  It  was  in  1840,  when  the 
Roman  Catholics  once  more  petitioned  the  Council  for  participation  in 
the  public  fund  in  part  support  of  their  church  schools.  The  annual 
report  of  the  Public  School  Society,  1841  (p.  5),  affords  the  following 
historical  account: 

"The  hope  entertained  in  the  last  report,  that  the  efforts  made  by  a 
religious  denomination  in  our  city,  to  obtain  a  portion  of  the  school  monies 
for  the  support  of  seminaries  under  their  own  exclusive  management, 
would  cease,  the  Trustees  regret  to  say,  has  been  wholly  disap- 
pointed. So  far  from  yielding  to  the  emphatic  language  of  a  unani- 
mous decision  of  the  Board  of  Assistant  Aldermen,  and  uniting  in  a 
magnanimous  effort  to  extend  the  benefits  of  the  Public  Schools  to  the 
children  of  their  own  denomination,  they  again  appealed  to  our  municipal 
authorities.  After  a  minute  and  careful  examination  of  the  whole  sub- 
ject by  the  Board  of  Aldermen,  accompanied  by  a  lengthened  debate, 
thrown  open  to  all  parties  interested,  and  a  thorough  examination  of 
several  of  the  schools,  this  application  like  the  other  was  rejected  by  a 


FINAL  LEGAL  STATUS  OF  SECTARIAN  INSTRUCTION        53 

vote,  with  a  single  exception,  unanimous.  Undeterred  by  these  repeated 
failures,  and  apparently  unconvinced  of  the  injustice  of  the  claim  they 
set  up,  they  have  applied  to  the  state  legislature,  for  what  they  term 
redress,  with  what  success  remains  yet  to  be  seen." 

The  petition  of  the  Catholics,  together  with  the  remonstrances  of  the 
Public  School  Society  and  of  other  societies  and  individuals  were  referred 
by  the  Board  of  Assistants  to  the  Committee  on  Arts  and  Sciences  and 
Schools.  This  committee  reported  on  April  27,  1840  (Journal  and 
Documents  of  the  Board  of  Assistants,  vol.  15,  pp.  335  f.).  The  report 
affirms  that  on  the  part  of  the  Catholics  it  was  contended  that  the 
schools  connected  with  their  churches  were  established  for  the  education 
of  the  poor  connected  with  their  respective  congregations,  although 
children  of  other  denominations  were  not  excluded.  It  was  further 
stated  that  no  religious  tests  were  required  for  admission  and  that  no 
attempt  was  made  to  alter  the  religious  views  of  children  of  parents  not 
connected  with  the  Catholic  church. 

Objection  was  raised  by  the  Catholics  against  the  public  schools. 
It  was  claimed  that  no  religious  instruction  was  communicated  there;  or, 
if  any  was  given,  it  reflected  upon  doctrines  of  the  Catholic  church.  It 
was  further  urged  by  the  petitioners  that  they  were  taxed,  along  with 
other  citizens  in  order  to  provide  the  school  fund,  and  that  they  were 
therefore  entitled  to  enjoy  its  advantages.  They  were  however  pre- 
vented from  this  for  conscience'  sake.  Catholics  could  not  send  their 
children  to  schools  in  which  the  religious  doctrines  of  their  fathers  were 
exposed  to  ridicule. 

On  behalf  of  the  Public  School  Society  "it  was  contended  that  any 
appropriation  of  the  School  Money,  to  any  religious  denomination  for 
the  purpose  of  educating  the  children  of  that  denomination  was 
foreign  to  the  design  of  the  Common  School  system,  as  organized  by 
law,  hostile  to  the  spirit  of  the  constitution,  and  at  violence  with  the 
nature  of  our  free  institutions." 

In  the  opinion  of  the  committee  there  were  two  questions  to  be 
answered:  Did  the  Common  Council  under  existing  laws  have  a  legal 
right  to  appropriate  any  portion  of  the  school  fund  to  religious  corpora- 
tions? In  the  second  place,  Would  such  an  appropriation  "be  in 
accordance  with  the  spirit  of  the  constitution,  and  the  nature  of  our 
government  ?" 

The  Council  has  power,  the  report  continues,  to  designate  the 
"Institutions  and  Schools"  which  shall  participate  in  the  school  fund. 


54  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION  IN  NEW  YORK  PUBLIC  SCHOOLS 

To  understand  the  meaning  of  this  phrase  recourse  is  had  to  a  historical 
survey  of  public  instruction  in  the  city.  It  is  the  opinion  of  the  com- 
mittee "that  the  only  authority  under  which  religious  societies  partici- 
pated in  the  School  Fund,  was  contained  in  the  act  of  1813;  and  that 
this  act  was  repealed  by  the  legislature  [November  19,  1824]  with  the 
full  intention  that  religious  societies,  as  such,  should  no  longer  receive 
any  portion  of  the  School  Money  from  the  Public  Treasury,  even  for  the 
purpose  of  supporting  Common  Schools." 

In  regard  to  the  spirit  of  the  constitution,  the  report  goes  on  to  say 
that  the  people  of  the  state  are  divided  into  innumerable  religious  sects, 
each  desirous  of  making  converts  to  its  opinions.  In  the  old  world  this 
disposition  had  led  to  persecutions  and  martyrdoms,  to  the  stake,  the 
gibbet,  and  the  prison.  To  prevent  the  recurrence  of  these  abhorrent 
scenes  in  our  own  country,  the  constitution  of  the  United  States  and 
those  of  the  several  states  have  in  some  form  declared  "that  there  should 
be  no  establishment  of  religion  by  law;  that  the  affairs  of  the  State 
should  be  kept  entirely  distinct  from,  and  unconnected  with  those  of  the 
Church;  that  every  human  being  should  worship  God,  according  to  the 
dictates  of  his  own  conscience;  that  all  Churches  and  religions  should  be 
supported  by  voluntary  contribution;  and  that  no  tax  should  ever  be 
imposed  for  the  benefit  of  any  denomination  of  religion,  for  any  cause, 
or  under  any  pretense  whatever." 

The  opinion  of  the  committee  in  regard  to  teaching  religion  in  the 
public  schools  is  stated  in  very  decided  language.  This  is  what  they  say: 
"If  religious  instruction  is  communicated,  it  is  foreign  to  the  intentions 
of  the  school  system,  and  should  be  instantly  abandoned.  Religious 
instruction  is  no  part  of  a  common  school  education.  The  church  and 
the  fireside  are  the  proper  seminaries,  and  the  parents  and  pastors  are 
the  proper  teachers  of  religion.  In  their  hands,  the  cause  of  religion  is 
safe.  Let  the  public  schoolmaster  confine  his  attention  to  the  moral 
and  intellectual  education  of  the  young  committed  to  his  charge,  and  he 
fully  performs  the  duty  of  his  profession,  discharges  the  trust  reposed  in 
him  as  a  public  agent,  and  fulfils  his  obligation  as  a  citizen." 

The  report  concludes  by  expressing  the  conviction  that  as  the 
petitioners  come  before  the  Council  in  the  capacity  of  a  religious  denomi- 
nation, they  have  not,  in  that  capacity,  made  out  a  valid  claim  to 
participation  in  the  school  fund.  The  intentions  of  the  legislature,  the 
expressed  will  of  the  people,  and  the  requirements  of  the  constitution  all 
demand  that  the  school  fund  be  sacredly  appropriated  to  "  the  purposes 
of  free  and  common  secular  education." 


FINAL  LEGAL  STATUS  OF  SECTARIAN  INSTRUCTION         55 

The  report  just  untier  consideration  takes  us  a  very  decided  step  in 
advance  of  any  position  heretofore  advocated.  It  is  an  unhesitating 
commitment  to  the  policy  of  a  "common  secular  education."  Instruc- 
tion in  religion  is  "no  part  of  a  common  school  education,"  and  if  there 
be  such  in  the  schools,  it  should  be  "instantly  abandoned." 

It  is  interesting  to  note  the  changed  attitude  of  the  churches  since  the 
controversy  of  1825.  At  that  time  they  were  opponents  of  the  Public 
School  Society  and  were  more  intent  upon  having  their  schools  sub- 
sidized by  the  state  than  upon  espousing  any  such  abstract  principle  as 
religious  liberty.  The  situation  is  different  now.  With  hardly  an 
exception  they  are  backing  up  the  contention  of  the  Public  School 
Society  and  are  lifting  their  voices  in  protest  against  the  diversion  of  the 
school  fund.  It  was  a  battle  of  the  giants.  The  Catholic  churches  were 
thoroughly  aroused.  Mass  meetings  were  being  held  among  the  con- 
stituents of  that  denomination  and  wide  excitement  prevailed.  (See 
speech  of  Hiram  Ketchum  before  Common  Council,  printed  in  Bourne, 
p.  239.)  It  was  their  settled  purpose  to  fight  the  issue  to  a  finish,  as 
may  be  inferred  from  the  fact  that  when  denied  their  petition  before  the 
Board  of  Assistants  they  turned  to  the  Board  of  Aldermen,  and,  when 
again  defeated  before  that  body,  they  turned  to  the  legislature  of  the 
state.  They  were  contending  for  what  they  considered  to  be  their 
rights.  By  paying  their  taxes  they  had  made  their  contribution  to  the 
school  fund.  But  they  were  not  enjoying  the  advantages  of  this  fund, 
because  they  could  not  for  conscience'  sake  send  their  children  to  the 
public  schools.  They  could  see  no  reason  why  they  should  not  receive  a 
portion  of  the  public  bounty,  and  even  based  their  plea  on  the  principle 
of  religious  liberty  and  rights  of  conscience.  (See  speech  of  Bishop 
Hughes,  reprinted  in  Bourne,  pp.  202  ff.) 

But  arrayed  against  the  Catholic  petitioners  were  the  Public  School 
Society  and  many  of  the  prominent  churches  of  the  city.  These  latter 
organizations  had  a  vision  now  they  had  not  enjoyed  in  days  gone  by. 
It  was  now  evident  to  them  that  the  granting  of  the  Catholic  petition 
would  be  a  violation  of  the  rights  of  conscience.  They  were  now  aban- 
doned to  the  principle  that  public  money  should  not  be  committed  to 
the  charge  of  any  religious  body  whatsoever.  In  substantiation  of  the 
statement  regarding  the  changed  attitude  of  the  churches  the  following 
remonstrances  against  the  petition  of  the  Catholics  are  called  in  evidence : 

The  Remonstrance  of  the  Trustees  of  the  Several  Congregations  of 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church,  March  6,  1840,  heartily  concurs  in 
the  policy  of  confining  the  school  fund  to  non-religious  bodies,  and  looks 


56  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION  IN  NEW  YORK  PUBLIC   SCHOOLS 

upon  the  granting  of  the  petition  of  the  Catholics  as  a  perversion  of  that 
fund,  notwithstanding  the  fact  that  on  a  former  occasion  they  had 
petitioned  for  a  similar  privilege  (Journal  and  Documents  of  the  Board  of 
Assistants,  XV,  378). 

The  Remonstrance  of  the  East  Broome  Street  Baptist  Church, 
March  25,  1840,  regards  accession  to  the  petition  in  question  injurious 
to  the  best  interests  of  the  community  and  destructive  of  the  present 
popular  and  highly  efficient  public  schools  (ibid.,  p.  382). 

The  Remonstrance  of  the  Ministers,  Elders,  and  Deacons  of  the 
Reformed  Protestant  Dutch  Church  claims  that  to  allow  the  Catholics 
participation  in  the  school  fund  would  grant  special  privilege  to  one 
denomination  and  give  it  peculiar  advantages  of  proselytism,  and  create 
an  odious  union  between  church  and  state.  It  would  be  in  "direct 
opposition  to  a  great  principle  of  our  government,  and  destructive  of  the 
present  admirable  and  efficient  mode  of  general  instruction  "  (ibid., p.  384) . 

The  Remonstrance  of  the  Ministers,  Elders,  and  Deacons  of  the 
Reformed  Dutch  Church  in  Broome  Street,  March,  1840,  declares  that 
the  petition  of  the  Catholics  calls  for  "an  act,  alike  repugnant  to  common 
justice,  the  genius  of  our  institutions,  and  the  design  for  which  the  fund 
was  created."  Granting  the  petition  would  bring  about  two  of  the  most 
odious  features  of  a  religious  establishment:  special  governmental  favor 
to  a  particular  sect,  and  taxing  the  whole  people  for  the  support  of  a 
part  (ibid.,  p.  387). 

The  Remonstrance  of  the  Consistory  of  the  Reformed  Presbyterian 
Church,  April  7,  1840,  affirms  that  for  the  Council  to  grant  the  Catholic 
petition  would  be  "directly  contributing  to  the  support  and  perpetuation 
of  the  faith  and  practice  of  a  particular  religious  sect;  an  act  which 
would  be  at  variance  with  the  whole  spirit  of  our  civil  institutions, 
involving  a  prostitution  of  the  School  Fund  itself,  and  tending  to  create 
a  privileged  class  in  society,  to  the  detriment  of  the  others  entitled  to 
equal  rights"  (ibid.,  p.  389). 

It  will  not  now  be  necessary  to  consider  the  application  of  the 
Catholics  to  the  Board  of  Aldermen,  as  the  issue  was  fought  out  before 
that  body  with  the  same  arguments  and  on  the  same  grounds  which  had 
been  presented  to  the  Board  of  Assistants.  We  can  therefore  pass  on  to 
the  final  stage  of  the  controversy. 

The  defeat  of  the  Catholics  before  both  branches  of  the  Common 
Council  in  nowise  affected  their  convictions  as  to  the  distribution  of  the 
school  fund.  They  were  more  determined  than  ever  before.  They 


FINAL  LEGAL  STATUS  OF  SECTARIAN  INSTRUCTION         57 

were  now  nerved  for  the  conflict.  A  central  executive  committee  was 
formed,  also  a  committee  of  two  in  each  ward  to  carry  out  in  the  various 
localities  of  the  city  the  measures  recommended  by  the  central  com- 
mittee. The  Catholic  movement,  thus  thoroughly  organized,  proceeded 
at  once  to  hold  meetings  and  circulate  petitions  (Bourne,  pp.  350  f.).  It 
was  their  intention  to  approach  the  state  legislature,  and  thus  invoke  in 
behalf  of  their  cause  the  intervention  of  the  highest  tribunal  of  the  land. 
Its  memorial  was  presented  to  the  senate  in  the  spring  of  1841,  which, 
together  with  the  remonstrance  of  the  Public  School  Society,  was 
referred  by  that  body  to  the  Secretary  of  State,  John  C.  Spencer,  who 
made  his  report  on  April  26  (Randall,  History  of  the  Common  School 
System  of  New  York,  p.  124).  It  was  a  very  able  and  elaborate  discus- 
sion of  the  relation  of  the  state  to  religious  and  sectarian  instruction. 
His  fundamental  position  is  that  the  state  should  extend  education  to 
all  classes,  that  they  may  be  qualified  to  exercise  the  duties  and  pre- 
rogatives of  citizenship.  The  report  in  question  has  such  great  impor- 
tance for  our  subject  that  it  seems  necessary  to  reproduce  the  following 
lengthy  extracts: 

"  It  is  very  true  that  the  government  has  assumed  only  the  intellectual 
education  of  the  children  of  the  state,  and  has  left  their  moral  and 
religious  instruction  to  be  given  at  the  fireside,  at  the  places  of  public 
worship,  and  at  those  institutions  which  the  piety  of  individuals  may 
establish  for  the  purpose.  But  it  is  believed  that  in  a  country  where 
the  great  body  of  our  fellow  citizens  recognize  the  fundamental  truths  of 
Christianity,  public  sentiment  would  be  shocked  by  the  attempt  to 
exclude  all  instruction  of  a  religious  nature  from  the  public  schools;  and 
that  any  plan  or  scheme  of  education  in  which  no  reference  whatever  was 
had  to  moral  principles  founded  on  these  truths  would  be  abandoned  by 
all.  In  the  next  place,  it  is  believed  such  an  attempt  would  be  wholly 
impracticable.  No  books  can  be  found,  no  reading  lessons  can  be 
selected,  which  do  not  contain,  more  or  less,  some  principles  of  religious 
faith,  either  directly  avowed  or  indirectly  assumed.  Religion  and 
literature  have  become  inseparably  interwoven,  and  the  expurgation  of 
religious  sentiments  from  the  production  of  orators,  essayists,  and  poets 
would  leave  them  utterly  barren. 

"Viewing  the  subject  then  practically,  it  may  be  regarded  as  a 
settled  opinion  in  all  schemes  of  education  intended  for  the  youth  of  this 
country,  that  there  must  be  of  necessity  a  very  considerable  amount  of 
religious  instruction.  The  Trustees  of  the  Public  School  Society  have 


$8  RELIGIOUS   EDUCATION  IN  NEW  YORK  PUBLIC   SCHOOLS 

probably  no  more  in  their  schools  than  could  be  well  avoided.  While 
they  profess,  and  doubtlessly  sincerely,  their  readiness  to  omit  every- 
thing that  may  be  justly  regarded  as  offensive,  they  yet  maintain,  and 
properly,  that  education  is  imperfect  without  inculcating  moral  and 
religious  principles;  and  hence  they  allow  the  reading  of  the  Scriptures 
or  portions  of  them,  and  inculcate  the  leading  principles  of  Christianity. 
But  it  is  impossible  to  conceive  how  even  these  principles  can  be  taught, 
so  as  to  be  of  any  value  without  inculcating  what  is  peculiar  to  some  one 

or  more  denominations,  and  denied  by  others Even  the  reading 

of  the  text  of  our  common  translation  of  the  Scriptures,  is  objected  to  by 
many,  on  account  of  its  being,  as  they  allege,  erroneous  and  imperfect, 
while  others  deem  its  perusal  by  children,  without  explanation,  positively 
injurious.  Even  the  moderate  degree  of  religious  instruction  which  the 
Public  School  Society  imparts,  must  therefore  be  sectarian;  that  is,  it 
must  favor  one  set  of  opinions,  in  opposition  to  another  or  others;  it  is 
believed  that  this  always  will  be  the  result,  in  any  course  of  education 
that  the  wit  of  man  can  devise." 

This  leads  to  the  dilemma  "that  while  some  degree  of  religious 
instruction  is  indispensable,  and  will  be  had,  under  all  circumstances,  it 
cannot  be  imparted,  without  partaking  to  some  extent  of  sectarian 
character."  It  is  proposed  to  solve  this  dilemma  by  recourse  to  the 
fundamental  law  of  the  state,  which  guarantees  "to  all  mankind"  within 
its  borders  "the  free  exercise  and  enjoyment  of  religious  profession." 
In  harmony  with  this  law  no  legislation  had  been  passed  by  the  state  in 
any  way  connected  with  religious  faith  and  profession. 

"On  this  principle  of  what  may  be  termed  absolute  non-intervention, 
may  we  rely  to  remove  all  the  apparent  difficulties  which  surround  the 
subject  under  consideration.  In  the  theory  of  the  Common  School  law 
which  governs  the  whole  State,  except  the  city  of  New  York,  it  is  fully 
and  entirely  maintained;  and  in  the  administration  of  that  law,  it  is 
sacredly  observed.  No  officer,  among  the  thousands  having  charge  of 
our  Common  Schools,  thinks  of  interposing  by  any  authoritative  direc- 
tion, respecting  the  nature  or  extent  of  moral  or  religious  instruction  to 
be  given  in  the  schools.  Its  whole  control  is  left  to  the  free  and  unre- 
stricted action  of  the  people  themselves,  in  their  several  districts 

The  practical  consequence  is,  that  each  district  suits  itself,  by  having 
such  religious  instruction  in  its  school  as  is  congenial  to  the  opinions  of 
its  inhabitants;  and  the  records  of  this  department  have  been  searched 
in  vain,  for  an  instance  of  a  complaint  of  any  abuse  of  this  authority,  in 
any  of  the  schools  out  of  the  city  of  New  York It  is  manifest 


FINAL  LEGAL  STATUS  OF  SECTARIAN  INSTRUCTION        59 

that  the  great  source  of  the  difficulties  in  the  city  of  New  York  arises 
from  a  violation  of  this  principle"  (Report  of  the  State  Superintendent, 
January  6,  1842). 

The  report  proceeds  further  to  say  that  the  Public  School  Society 
stands  in  the  way  of  the  direct  management  of  the  schools  by  the  people. 
That  Society,  it  is  contended,  engrosses  the  public  education  of  the  city, 
and  makes  impossible  the  action  of  small  masses,  as  in  the  interior  of  the 
state.  Under  such  circumstances  the  only  possible  application  of  the 
principle  of  non-intervention  is  by  the  total  abandonment  of  all  religious 
instruction.  In  a  community  composed  of  so  many  different  religious 
sects  no  other  method  of  procedure  can  hope  to  be  acceptable  to  all.  If, 
however,  the  degree  and  kind  of  religious  instruction  could  be  left  to  the 
choice  of  parents,  in  small  masses,  the  chief  cause  of  dissatisfaction  and 
conscientious  objection  would  be  removed.  The  policy  here  recom- 
mended finds  corroboration  in  the  experience  of  twenty-five  years  in  the 
school  districts  of  the  interior.  This  principle  can  be  applied  in  the  city 
of  New  York  only  by  depriving  its  present  system  of  its  character  of 
universality  and  exclusiveness,  and  by  making  it  possible  for  small 
masses  to  give  expression  to  their  interests  and  opinions.  In  this  way 
every  denomination  may  enjoy  its  "religious  profession"  in  the  education 
of  its  youth  (ibid.}. 

To  carry  out  the  suggestion  of  his  report,  Secretary  Spencer  drew  up 
a  bill,  the  purport  of  which  was  to  extend  to  New  York  City  the  principle 
that  prevailed  throughout  the  state.  A  board  of  education  was  to  be 
elected  by  the  people  consisting  of  representatives  from  each  ward. 
This  board  was  to  have  complete  supervision  of  the  system  of  public 
education  in  the  city,  and  to  act  in  co-operation  with  the  Public  School 
Society  in  the  management  of  its  schools  (ibid.}.  But  contrary  to  the 
expectations  of  the  advocates  of  this  measure,  it  failed  to  pass  the 
legislature  (Bourne,  p.  426). 

The  Public  School  Society  had  not  been  inactive.  It  had  strenuously 
opposed  the  effort  to  induce  the  legislature  to  modify  the  educational 
system  of  the  city.  Secretary  Spencer's  report  and  the  measure  he  pro- 
posed met  with  its  unqualified  opposition.  The  reply  of  the  Society  and 
its  friends  was  made  through  the  Commissioners  of  School  Moneys  for 
the  City  of  New  York,  who  presented  their  annual  report  to  the  Super- 
intendent of  Public  Instruction,  May,  1841.  Exception  was  taken  to 
what  Secretary  Spencer  had  said  about  the  necessity  of  public  education 
being  sectarian: 

"In  adopting  a  system  of  general  education  at  the  public  expense, 


60  RELIGIOUS   EDUCATION  IN  NEW  YORK  PUBLIC   SCHOOLS 

the  object  of  the  State  was  to  give  its  youth  such  an  education  as  would 
fit  them  to  discharge  the  civil  obligations  of  this  life,  leaving  it  to  their 
natural  and  ecclesiastical  guardians,  to  prepare  them,  through  a  parental 
and  spiritual  ministry,  to  render  their  account  in  another  world.  There 
ought  to  be,  and  there  must  be,  some  common  platform  on  which  all  the 
children  may  obtain  their  secular  education,  who  are  destined  to  act  as 
citizens  of  the  same  republic.  To  that  general  training,  all  the  children 
are  entitled;  but  it  is  the  public  who  are  to  determine  on  its  particulars 
and  conditions,  and  not  the  parents  who  may  claim  it  for  their  offspring." 

The  object  of  the  school  fund  is  to  provide  "for  a  civil  purpose 
exclusively,  not  to  prepare  the  path  to  any  designated  place  of  worship. 
....  This  State  has  never  yet  asserted  the  power  to  tax  its  people  for 
ecclesiastical  objects;  and  if  its  sovereignty  comprehended  such  a  power, 
the  rights  of  conscience  require  that  the  religion  of  the  tax-payer  be 
recorded  on  the  assessment  roll  and  his  contribution  be  dealt  to  the 
encouragement  of  his  own  communion." 

It  will  be  seen  from  the  extracts  just  gone  before,  that  the  Public 
School  Society  is  occupying  the  same  old  ground.  It  is  still  making 
sectarianism  the  paramount  issue. 

In  the  following  year,  1842,  the  matter  was  again  brought  before  the 
legislature.  This  time  the  measure  originated  in  the  assembly.  It  was 
referred  to  the  committee  on  colleges,  academies,  and  common  schools, 
which  committee  reported  February  14,  1842.  The  report  recognizes 
the  complaint  that  the  Public  School  Society  has  a  monopoly  of  public 
education  in  the  city.  It  considers  furthermore  that  the  public  schools 
have  failed  to  accomplish  the  objects  contemplated  in  their  establish- 
ment. A  great  number  of  parents  are  unwilling  to  intrust  the  education 
of  their  children  to  these  schools,  and  nearly  half  of  the  citizens  of  the 
metropolis  protest  against  the  system  and  demand  its  modification. 
The  remedy  offered  by  the  committee  was  in  the  nature  of  a  bill,  which 
contained  the  principal  features  suggested  the  year  before  by  Secretary 
Spencer  (Report  reprinted  in  Bourne,  p.  501). 

The  chairman  of  the  committee,  Mr.  Maclay,  of  New  York  City, 
defended  his  measure  before  the  assembly  by  saying  there  were  only  two 
classes  of  persons  in  New  York  as  related  to  the  subject — the  one  satisfied 
with,  and  the  other  opposed  to,  the  present  school  system.  To  the 
former — largely  the  Public  School  Society — the  bill  proposed  to  leave 
schools  as  they  were;  to  the  latter,  it  gave  schools  under  the  same 
regulations  as  existed  in  other  parts  of  the  state  (Bourne,  p.  518).  The 
bill  passed  the  legislature  on  April  n,  1842. 


FINAL  LEGAL   STATUS   OF   SECTARIAN  INSTRUCTION  6 1 

The  discussion  of  the  school  question  before  the  legislature  had  one 
important  difference  from  the  consideration  of  that  subject  before  the 
Common  Council.  Before  the  former  it  took  a  broader  scope.  There 
was  a  fuller  recognition  of  the  needs  and  rights  of  all  members  of  the 
community.  The  Public  School  Society  was  a  philanthropic  organiza- 
tion worthy  of  the  highest  praise.  Its  record  of  benevolence  was  perhaps 
unsurpassed.  But  it  seemed  to  fancy  that  its  system  of  education  was 
unsusceptible  of  improvement,  and,  while  splendidly  advocating  the 
principle  of  civil  and  religious  freedom,  at  the  same  tune  it  represented 
a  policy  of  mild  coercion.  It  could  not,  or  would  not,  understand  why 
the  Catholics  refused  to  draw  the  water  of  knowledge  from  the  educa- 
tional cisterns  which  it  had  dug.  But  in  the  discussion  before  the 
legislature,  on  the  part  of  the  opponents  of  the  system  of  education  then 
prevailing  in  the  city,  sectarianism  seems  to  have  been  forgotten,  or  at 
least  suppressed.  The  necessity  of  providing  for  all  the  poor  children  of 
the  city  was  the  paramount  issue,  regardless  either  of  Catholicism  or 
Protestantism. 

But  the  religious  question  was  not  omitted  from  the  new  law.  For 
twenty  years  now  it  had  been  a  matter  of  contention,  of  irreconcilable 
strife.  The  controversy  of  these  twenty  years  at  last  finds  a  mandatory 
voice  in  the  legal  provision  refusing  all  moneys  to  schools  allowing 
sectarian  teaching.  The  language  of  that  law,  so  far  as  it  appertains  to 
our  subject,  will  be  of  interest  in  this  connection: 

"An  Act  to  extend  to  the  city  and  county  of  New  York  the  provisions 
of  the  general  act  in  relation  to  common  schools. 

"  Section  14.  No  school  above  mentioned,  or  which  shall  be  organ- 
ized under  this  act,  in  which  any  religious  sectarian  doctrine  or  tenets 
shall  be  taught,  inculcated,  or  practised,  shall  receive  any  portion  of  the 
school  moneys  to  be  distributed  by  this  act,  as  hereafter  provided;  and 
it  shall  be  the  duty  of  the  trustees,  inspectors,  and  commissioners  of 
schools  in  each  ward,  and  of  the  deputy  (county)  superintendent  of 
schools,  from  time  to  time,  and  as  frequently  as  need  be,  to  examine  and 
ascertain,  and  report  to  the  said  board  of  education,  whether  any  reli- 
gious sectarian  doctrine  or  tenet  shall  have  been  taught,  inculcated,  or 
practised  in  any  of  the  schools  in  their  respective  wards;  etc." 

Section  15.  No  school  shall  be  entitled  to  a  portion  of  the  school 
fund  "in  which  any  religious  sectarian  doctrine  or  tenet  shall  have  been 
taught  inculcated,  or  practised,  or  which  shall  refuse  to  permit  the  visits 
and  examinations  provided  for  by  this  act"  (Laws  of  New  York,  1842, 
pp.  187,  188). 


62  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION  IN  NEW  YORK  PUBLIC   SCHOOLS 

In  1843,  April  18,  the  above  act  was  amended.  So  far  as  relates  to 
religious  instruction,  sec.  15  was  modified  by  inserting  immediately 
after  "or  practised"  the  following  words:  "or  in  which  any  book  or 
books  containing  any  sectarian  compositions  shall  be  used  in  the- course 
of  instruction"  (Laws  of  New  York,  1843,  p.  294). 

This  provision,  denying  participation  in  the  public  fund  to  all 
schools  in  the  city  of  New  York  in  which  there  was  taught  sectarian 
instruction  of  any  character,  has  been  repeatedly  re-enacted  (Laws  of  New 
York,  1844,  p.  494;  1851,  p.  745;  1 87 1,  p.  1271)  and  was  finally  incor- 
porated in  the  charter  of  Greater  New  York  in  1897  (ibid.,  1897,  III, 
411),  and  in  the  revision  of  1901  (ibid.,  1901,  III,  491).  But  this  restric- 
tion applies  only  to  the  city  of  New  York.  The  laws  of  the  state  have 
been  searched  in  vain  for  any  general  act  relative  to  religious  or  sec- 
tarian instruction  in  the  schools  at  large.  There  seems  to  be  no  such  act. 
The  decisions  of  the  State  Superintendent  relative  to  this  subject  will 
be  discussed  in  a  later  chapter. 


CHAPTER  VIII 

THE  RELIGIOUS  CONCEPTION  OF  EDUCATION  IN  PROCESS  OF 
MODIFICATION 

The  religious  character  of  common-school  education  down  through 
the  first  quarter  of  the  nineteenth  century  has  been  quite  fully  demon- 
strated. It  is  the  purpose  of  this  chapter  to  trace,  so  far  as  the  data  will 
allow,  the  changing  attitude  of  educational  thinkers  and  of  educational 
practice,  relative  to  religious  instruction  in  the  public  schools,  for  the 
remainder  of  the  century.  A  good  starting-point  is  afforded  by  An 
Address  from  an  Instructor  to  His  Scholars,  pronounced  at  Woodstock, 
New  York,  April  14,  1804  (Samuel  Pettis;  in  Astor  Library,  New  York 
City).  The  author  of  this  address  was  very  probably  the  master  of  a 
private  school,  but  his  attitude  toward  religion  is  none  the  less  illustrative 
of  what  must  have  been  the  prevailing  custom  in  the  public  institutions 
of  the  time.  It  is  gratifying  to  note  that  the  instructor  in  question  shows 
a  very  warm  attachment  for  his  pupils.  He  regrets  that  the  time  of 
separation  has  come:  "Having  labored  for  a  considerable  tune  in  your 
education,  received  a  compensation  equal  to  my  services,  augmented  by 
a  laudable  ambition  in  you,  and  finding  myself  unhappily  arrived  at  a 
parting  moment;  I  cannot  feel  my  duty  discharged  otherwise  than  by 
offering  you  a  few  hints  by  way  of  advice." 

He  now  goes  on  to  address  them  on  what  he  calls  "the  one  thing 
needful,"  and  here  we  shall  let  Mr.  Pettis  speak  to  us  in  his  own  words: 
"It  is  upon  God,  that  we  are  dependent  for  every  blessing;  it  is  from  this 
great  source,  that  we  derive  life,  breath,  and  every  enjoyment ;  and  it  is 
owing  to  his  beneficent  hand,  that  we  live  in  a  country,  where  every 
material  necessary  to  perfect  the  happiness  of  man,  is  profusely  scattered 
in  our  way."  Considering  our  material  blessings  and  religious  oppor- 
tunities, "our  hearts,  if  not  adamant,  cannot  but  feel  a  desire  to  bless 
his  holy  name,  and  are  ready  to  acknowledge  it  the  greatest  ingratitude 
not  to  render  him  our  thankful  and  constant  services,  for  his  goodness  to 
us,  and  for  those  distinguished  favors,  which  we  are  permitted  through 
his  beneficent  hand  to  enjoy.  I  cannot  conclude  this  paragraph,  without 
calling  upon  you  to  seek  the  Lord  in  the  days  of  your  youth,  before  the 
stroke  of  death,  to  which,  you  are  every  moment  liable,  shall  deprive 
you  of  that  invaluable  privilege.  Follow,  I  beseech  you,  w  th  suitable 
humility  the  glorious  examples  and  heavenly  precepts  of  the  divine 

63 


64  RELIGIOUS   EDUCATION  IN  NEW  YORK  PUBLIC   SCHOOLS 

Philanthropist  of  Nazareth;  which,  when  all  the  vanities  of  this  life  shall 
disappear,  like  an  empty  vision,  will  be  the  only  comfort  to  make  your 
passage  through  the  floods  of  death,  free  from  the  most  unhappy 
consequences." 

Discussing  the  advantages  of  learning  to  read,  Mr.  Pettis  says  it 
affords  us  "  the  satisfaction  of  searching  the  divine  volume  for  ourselves, 
which  enables  us  from  our  own  observation  to  become  acquainted  with 
our  several  duties  to  God  and  our  fellow  men."  Continuing  his  discus- 
sion of  the  value  of  the  various  parts  of  the  curriculum,  we  are  informed 
that  "astronomy  ....  is  a  sublime  and  useful  science;  it  is  well 
calculated  to  exercise  the  mind  upon  the  greatness  of  the  Almighty's 
power,  in  creating  and  moving  the  heavenly  bodies,  and  is  well  adapted 
to  humble  the  proud  heart  of  man." 

In  the  next  place,  the  pupils  are  reminded  of  the  duty  of  improving 
"the  few  remaining  hours"  allotted  to  their  trust  in  such  a  manner  that 
they  may  be  able  and  willing  to  give  an  account  unto  God,  having  added 
to  the  measure  of  their  talents  to  that  degree,  that  they  may  receive  the 
reward  of  "well  done,  good  and  faithful  servant,"  and  enter  into  the  joys 
of  immortality. 

The  address  concludes  by  telling  the  pupils  that  they  are  now 
launched  upon  the  tempestuous  sea  of  life.  They  are  therefore  asked  to 
take  religion  for  their  compass  and  director,  truth  for  their  pilot,  love 
and  contentment  for  their  companions;  they  are  to  aim  at  the  greatest 
gloty  of  the  heavenly  Father,  then  with  propriety  they  may  look  for  the 
haven  of  perfect  happiness  in  the  world  to  come. 

This  schoolmaster  could  hardly  be  accused  of  holding  the  secular 
view  of  education.  Nor,  considering  the  evidence  already  adduced  in 
the  early  chapters  of  this  discussion,  is  it  possible  to  think  he  was  an 
exception  to  the  general  custom  of  his  time.  On  this  account  he  is  intro- 
duced here,  that  we  may  be  reminded  of  the  thoroughly  religious  charac- 
ter of  public  education  at  the  beginning  of  a  century,  which  in  the  course 
of  its  passing  decades  witnessed  almost  a  complete  reversal  of  this 
earlier  point  of  view. 

1  The  first  step  in  this  development,  it  seems,  was  taken  by  the  Public 
School  Society.  From  the  first  it  attempted  to  make  education  religious 
without  being  sectarian.  Its  records  furnish  abundant  evidence  of  this 
fact,  and  it  may  be  well  to  present  the  matter  in  the  language  of  the 
annual  reports: 

"The  Trustees  are  aware  of  the  importance  of  early  religious  instruc- 
tion; and  although  the  nature  of  their  association  and  its  true  interests 


MODIFICATION  OF  RELIGIOUS  CONCEPTION  OF  EDUCATION  65 

require  that  none  but  such  as  is  exclusively,  general  and  scriptural  in  its 
character,  should  be  introduced  into  the  schools  under  their  charge,  they 
require  from  the  teachers  stated  returns  of  the  number  of  their  scholars 
who  attend  at  the  various  Sunday  schools  or  places  of  worship  on  the 
Sabbath"  (Annual  Report,  1827,  p.  14). 

"The  Trustees  have  endeavored  to  keep  in  view  the  great  object  of 
the  Society — the  general  diffusion  of  education,  without  regard  to 
political  or  religious  distinctions; — composed  of  persons  of  various 
opinions,  they  have  permitted  neither  party,  nor  sectarian  feeling  to 
mingle  in  their  deliberations,  or  influence  their  conclusions.  Hence  it 
may  be  safely  inferred,  arises  the  confidence  which  the  community  repose 
in  the  Society,  and  its  Board  of  Trustees"  (ibid.,  1831,  pp.  2  f.). 

"The  constitution  of  the  Society  and  public  sentiment  wisely  forbid 
the  introduction  into  their  schools  of  any  such  religious  instruction  as 
shall  favor  the  peculiar  views  of  any  sect,  and  the  Trustees  endeavor  so 
carefully  to  guard  them  in  this  respect  as  to  give  no  just  cause  of  com- 
plaint, leaving  this  subject  where  it  rightfully  belongs,  to  the  parents 
and  guardians  of  the  children.  They  wish  however,  not  to  be  under- 
stood as  regarding  religious  impressions  in  early  youth  as  unimportant; 
on  the  contrary,  they  desire  to  do  all  which  may  with  propriety  be  done, 
to  give  a  right  direction  to  the  minds  of  the  children  entrusted  to  their 
care.  Their  schools  are  uniformly  opened  with  the  reading  of  the 
scriptures,  and  the  class  books  are  such  as  recognize  and  enforce  the  great 
and  generally  acknowledged  principles  of  Christianity.  A  large  propor- 
tion of  our  schools  attend  the  various  Sunday  schools  of  the  city,  by 
direction  of  their  parents,  and  the  Trustees  are  happy  to  bear  testimony 
to  their  great  usefulness,  believing  them  to  be  very  valuable  auxiliaries 
to  the  cause  of  public  instruction"  (ibid.,  1838,  p.  7). 

In  confirmation  of  the  claim  of  the  Public  School  Society,  as  set  forth 
in  the  extracts  given,  may  be  cited  the  words  of  the  deputy  superin- 
tendent of  the  county  and  city  of  New  York  in  report  to  the  state 
superintendent  of  common  schools,  December  31,  1842.  This  is  his 
testimony:  "Into  the  schools  of  the  Public  School  Society,  the  fell  spirit 
of  sectarianism  has  indeed  never  entered.  Their  foundations  have  been 
laid  upon  the  broad  basis  of  Christianity.  In  morals  and  religion,  the 
Bible  without  note  or  comment,  has  from  the  first  been  their  rule  and 
guide,  and  standard.  But  catechisms,  and  sectarian  books  are  rigidly 
excluded — the  object  being  to  sow  the  seeds  and  principles  of  divine 
truth,  by  a  daily  morning  lesson  from  the  sacred  word"  (Report  of  State 
Superintendent  for  1842,  p.  255). 


66  RELIGIOUS   EDUCATION  IN   NEW   YORK  PUBLIC   SCHOOLS 

These  extracts  need  no  further  explication.  They  make  plain  the 
general  attitude  of  the  Public  School  Society.  It  believed  in  a  general 
and  fundamentally  religious  education,  but  eschewed  all  sectarianism  as 
a  thing  impossible  from  the  nature  of  its  organization,  being  composed 
of  various  denominations;  and  as  inconsistent  with  the  genius  of  Ameri- 
can institutions.  But  this  was  the  first  step  in  the  exclusion  of  religious 
education  from  the  public  schools. 

Another  step  hi  this  movement  was  somewhat  strangely  taken  by  the 
Public  School  Society.  This  Society  had  championed  the  integrity  of 
the  public  educational  fund  and  had  declared  war  against  every  foe  of 
its  sacred  devotion  to  the  exclusive  ends  of  a  common-school  education. 
It  had  entered  the  controversy  in  1822,  when  Bethel  Baptist  Church  gave 
evidence  of  having  unholy  designs  against  the  school  money,  and  had 
hardly  laid  the  armor  down  until  the  law  of  1842  brought  the  matter  to 
a  final  solution.  The  chief  enemy  during  all  this  time  were  the  Catholics 
and  the  slogan  of  the  Public  School  Society  was  the  civil  character  of  the 
school  fund  and  the  sectarian  nature  of  the  Catholic  schools.  The 
Catholics  were  to  be  denied  participation  in  the  public  bounty,  because 
they  were  giving  a  sectarian  education.  But  what  if  the  Public  School 
Society  were  giving  a  similar  kind  of  education?  What  right  then 
would  its  schools  have  to  the  fund  sacredly  set  apart  for  the  purposes  of 
a  common  secular  education?  In  their  Twenty-Sixth  Annual  Report 
they  had  said  that  "  funds  raised  by  an  equal  tax,  for  promoting  general 
literary  education  cannot,  without  a  gross  violation  of  the  plainest  rules 
of  propriety  and  sound  policy,  be  diverted  from  that  channel,  to  propa- 
gate the  dogmas  of  a  religious  sect,  or  further  the  interests  of  a  political 
party"  (p.  3).  The  Catholics  were  not  slow  to  recognize  their  point  of 
vantage,  and  so  hurled  against  their  great  enemy,  the  Public  School 
Society,  the  counter  charge  of  sectarianism.  The  Public  School  Society, 
the  Catholics  said,  was  giving  a  sectarian  education  and  therefore, 
according  to  its  own  argument,  had  no  right  to  the  school  fund.  In  this 
way  the  burden  of  proof  was  laid  upon  the  Public  School  Society.  It 
must  free  itself  of  the  imputations  of  the  Catholics,  and  this  it  was  found, 
could  only  be  done  by  the  expurgation  of  its  school  books. 

This  charge  of  sectarianism  against  the  Public  School  Society  was 
very  boldly  made  in  the  course  of  the  controversy  of  1840.  After  the 
petition  of  the  Catholics  had  been  denied  by  the  Board  of  Assistants,  the 
former  issued  an  address  to  the  public,  August  10,  1840.  On  the  ques- 
tion of  school  books  they  make  the  following  declaration: 

"Besides  the  introduction  of  the  Holy  Scriptures  without  note  or 


MODIFICATION   OF   RELIGIOUS   CONCEPTION  OF   EDUCATION  67 

comment,  with  the  prevailing  theory  that  from  these  even  children  are 
to  get  their  notions  of  religion,  contrary  to  our  principles,  there  were,  in 
the  class-books  of  those  schools,  false  (as  we  believe)  historical  state- 
ments respecting  the  men  and  things  of  past  times,  calculated  to  fill  the 
minds  of  our  children  with  errors  of  fact,  and  at  the  same  time  to  excite 
in  them  prejudice  against  the  religion  of  their  parents  and  guardians. 
These  passages  were  not  considered  as  sectarian,  inasmuch  as  they  had 
been  selected  as  mere  reading  lessons,  and  were  not  in  favor  of  any  par- 
ticular sect,  but  merely  against  the  Catholics.  We  feel  it  is  unjust  that 
such  passages  should  be  taught  at  all  in  schools  to  the  support  of  which 
we  arev  contributors  as  well  as  others.  But  that  such  books  should  be 
put  into  the  hands  of  our  own  children,  and  that  in  part  at  our  own 
expense,  was  in  our  opinion,  unjust,  unnatural,  and,  at  all  events,  to  us 
intolerable"  (Bourne,  p.  335). 

Just  one  month  before,  this  question  had  been  discussed  in  the 
Freeman's  Journal  by  Rev.  Dr.  John  Power,  Vicar-General  of  the 
diocese  of  New  York  (reprinted  in  Bourne,  pp.  228  f.).  After  discussing 
the  objectionable  character  of  the  books  used  in  the  schools  of  the  Public 
School  Society  and  the  attitude  of  that  body  toward  the  common-school 
fund,  Dr.  Power  proceeds  as  follows: 

"The  objections  to  our  claims  to  a  due  portion  of  the  school  fund 
are,  I  think,  urged  in  bad  faith.  It  is  said  that  the  State  cannot  lend 
itself  to  the  support  of  sectarian  principles.  But  recollect,  sir,  that  this 
objection  is  urged  by  those  whose  conduct  is  truly  sectarian,  as  far  as 
regards  the  management  of  the  public  schools.  This,  I  think,  I  have 
abundantly  proved." 

The  Public  School  Society  responded  to  these  charges  on  the  part  of 
the  Catholics  by  appointing  a  committee,  May  i,  1840,  to  ascertain  and 
report  whether  the  books  used  in  the  public  schools  contained  anything 
derogatory  to  the  Roman  Catholic  church.  A  very  earnest  effort  was 
made  to  secure  the  co-operation  of  the  Catholic  clergy  in  this  movement, 
but  without  success.  The  trustees  however  persevered  in  their  efforts 
and  the  final  result  was  a' very  considerable  expurgation  of  the  textbooks 
used  in  the  schools  under  their  management  (Bourne,  pp.  325  f.).  Their 
report  for  1840  speaks  of  the  repeated  official  offers  they  had  made  to 
expunge  from  the  school  books  whatever  might  be  objectionable,  after 
thorough  examination,  to  the  most  scrupulous  conscience  (p.  7).  The 
report  of  the  following  year,  discussing  the  dissatisfaction  of  the  Catholics 
with  the  system  of  public  education  as  then  conducted,  proceeds  to  show 
how  the  Public  School  Society  had  endeavored  to  remove  every  reason- 


68  RELIGIOUS   EDUCATION  IN   NEW  YORK  PUBLIC   SCHOOLS 

able  obstacle.  With  this  end  in  view  the  trustees  of  the  Society  had 
resolved  upon  the  expurgation  of  the  school  books  of  "every  passage 
casting  imputations  upon  the  doctrines,  practices,  or  characters,  as  such, 
of  the  Roman  Catholic  Church,  or  its  members."  But  despite  all  this, 
they  have  to  lament  that  the  friendship  and  confidence  of  the  Catholics 
had  not  been  won  to  the  public  schools  (p.  7). 

Sufficient  has  been  said,  I  think,  to  show  that  the  charge  of  the 
Catholics  against  the  Public  School  Society  was  not  without  foundation. 
There  were  books  containing  objectionable  passages.  This  was  frankly 
acknowledged  by  the  Society  itself,  and  the  task  of  expurgation  was 
industriously  taken  up.  And  the  point  for  which  we  contend  here  is 
simply  this :  the  work  of  expurgating  the  school  books  was  another  step 
in  the  exclusion  of  religious  instruction  from  the  public  schools,  not  only 
because  the  books  were  expunged  of  all  doctrines  and  tenets  that  per- 
tained to  the  Catholic  church,  but  because  this  movement  on  the  part  of 
the  Public  School  Society  marked  a  more  decided  commitment,  in  practice 
as  well  as  theory,  to  the  principle  of  non-sectarianism  in  education. 

About  this  time  another  step  in  the  movement  toward  secularism  in 
public  education,  somewhat  parallel  to  that  just  described  in  the  Public 
School  Society,  was  being  taken  hi  the  state  department  of  public 
instruction.  The  Superintendent  of  Common  Schools,  in  his  report  for 
1846  (pp.  46-50),  gives  rather  a  full  discussion  of  district  libraries,  relative 
to  the  question  of  sectarianism.  He  reminds  the  trustees  that,  while 
they  have  the  authority  to  select  these  libraries,  they  must  exercise  this 
authority  under  a  standing  regulation  of  the  department  of  common 
schools,  passed  and  promulgated  when  the  law  authorizing  the  purchase 
of  libraries  was  first  passed.  The  regulation  in  question  discounte- 
nanced the  purchase  of  "works  imbued  with  party  politics,  and  those  of 
a  sectarian  character,  or  of  hostility  to  the  Christian  religion."  The 
report  for  1846  then  proceeds  to  call  attention  to  the  interpretation  of 
the  said  regulation  at  the  time  of  its  promulgation.  The  interpretation 
reads  as  follows: 

"i.  No  works  written  professedly  to  uphold  or  attack  any  sect  or 
creed  in  our  country,  claiming  to  be  a  religious  one,  shall  be  tolerated  in 
the  school  libraries. 

"  2.  Standard  works  on  other  topics  shall  not  be  excluded  because 
they  incidentally  and  indirectly  betray  the  religious  opinions  of  their 
authors. 

"3.  Works  avowedly  on  other  topics,  which  abound  in  direct  and 
unreserved  attacks  on,  or  defense  of,  the  character  of  any  religious  sect, 


MODIFICATION  OF  RELIGIOUS   CONCEPTION  OF  EDUCATION  69 

or  those  which  hold  up  any  religious  body  to  contempt  or  execration,  by 
singling  out  or  bringing  together  only  the  darker  parts  of  its  history  or 
character,  shall  be  excluded  from  the  school  libraries." 

The  report  goes  on  to  speak  of  the  full  and  free  toleration  of  all 
phases  of  religious  belief  guaranteed  in  the  constitution  of  the  country. 
In  accordance  with  this  fundamental  law,  the  prohibition,  called  for  by 
the  statute  and  enforced  by  the  department,  had  not  been  intended  to  pro- 
duce but  to  prevent  injustice  and  to  prevent  majorities  from  encroaching 
upon  the  rights  and  interests  of  minorities.  Individuals  have  the  right 
to  spend  their  money  and  devote  their  exertions,  as  they  please,  in  order  to 
propagate  their  religious  faith  and  creed,  but  any  such  interference  on 
the  part  of  the  state  would  wound  the  religious  sensibilities  of  its  citizens 
and  violate  a  highly  cherished  principle  of  the  fundamental  law.  It  is 
the  opinion  of  the  superintendent  that  no  work  which,  in  the  slightest 
degree,  is  sectarian  should  be  allowed  in  the  school  libraries.  The 
district  library  should  be  regarded  as  common  neutral  ground  where 
all  may  meet  divested  of  "offensive  and  defensive  armor,"  and  where 
the  Trinitarian  should  not  be  denounced  as  idolatrous,  nor  the  Unitarian 
charged  with  heresy.  Furthermore  it  is  the  opinion  of  the  superintend- 
ent that,  if  this  prohibition  be  disregarded  and  the  libraries  made  the 
receptacles  of  works  of  a  controversial  character,  such  marked  public 
indifference  would  be  encountered  as  to  leave  no  hope  of  sustaining  and 
perpetuating  the  usefulness  of  these  institutions. 

This  ruling  of  the  state  superintendent  was  in  line  with  the  general 
movement  away  from  the  religious  conception  of  education,  which  had 
obtained  so  largely  at  the  beginning  of  the  century.  To  all  intents  and 
purposes  this  was  an  effort  to  exclude  sectarianism  from  the  district 
libraries.  So  far  as  we  know,  the  thought  of  the  department  of  common 
schools  looked  not  beyond  such  an  immediate  result.  But,  aside  from 
the  question  whether  there  can  be  religious  education  after  all  sectarian- 
ism has  been  removed,  the  consequence  of  the  movement  in  question 
could  not  have  come  short  of  narrowing  down  the  thoroughly  religious 
conception  of  education,  so  popular  in  former  decades. 

In  his  report  for  the  year  1849  (pp.  22 if.)  the  State  Superintendent, 
outlines  what  he  considers  necessary  for  the  improvement  of  the  common 
schools.  Teachers  of  the  highest  practical  grade  of  qualifications,  the 
regular  and  constant  attendance  of  every  child,  the  course  of  instruction 
systematized  and  extended  so  as  to  accomplish  a  thorough  English 
education — all  these  are  indispensable  to  the  best  interests  of  the  com- 
mon schools.  Furthermore  it  is  the  opinion  of  the  Superintendent  that 


70  RELIGIOUS   EDUCATION  IN   NEW  YORK  PUBLIC   SCHOOLS 

a  sound  and  pure  Christian  morality  should  pervade  all  the  teaching  of 
the  schools  of  the  state.  Education  of  heart  and  head  must  keep  equal 
pace.  Correct  principles,  right  motives,  and  good  habits  must  early  be 
implanted  in  the  youthful  mind — "grow  with  its  growth  and  strengthen 
with  its  strength."  Too  much  care  cannot  be  taken  to  make  the  influ- 
ences of  the  elementary  schools  elevating  and  ennobling.  To  accom- 
plish this,  teachers  of  doubtful  morality  must  be  excluded  from  the  desk 
and  those  secured  whose  "daily  lessons  and  deportment  shall  inculcate 
and  foster  the  great  truths  of  humanity,  integrity,  conscientiousness  and 
benevolence."  There  is  no  need  whatsoever  of  any  reference  to  denomi- 
national distinctions  and  sectarian  differences.  "The  foundations  of 
character,  usefulness  and  happiness,  may  be  laid  in  those  enduring  and 
comprehensive  principles  of  Christian  ethics  and  morality  which  lie 
without  and  above  the  pale  of  mere  theology:  and  this  is  the  province  of 
the  common  school,  so  far  as  its  means  are  adequate  and  its  jurisdiction 
extends." 

Alongside  this  declaration  may  be  placed  the  decision  of  the  State 
Superintendent  of  Common  Schools  on  the  right  to  compel  Catholic 
children  to  attend  prayers,  and  to  read  or  commit  portions  of  the  Bible 
as  school  exercises  (October  27, 1853).  It  is  the  case  of  Rev.  Dr.  Quigley, 
of  Schaghticoke  versus  Margaret  Gifford  and  others  (see  pamphlet  in 
Astor  Library,  New  York  City).  The  complaint  states  that  on  the 
"  8th  day  of  August  last,  Margaret  Gifford,  a  common  school  teacher  in 
South  Easton,  Washington  county,  ordered  William  Callaghan,  a  pupil 
aged  twelve  years,  '  to  study  and  read  the  Protestant  Testament ' :  that 
on  his  declining  so  to  do  on  the  plea  '  that  he  was  a  Catholic  and  did  not 
believe  in  any  but  the  Catholic  Bible,'  said  teacher  consulted  the  Trustees 
on  the  subject:  that  on  the  gth  of  August,  she  again  required  the  boy  to 
'read  out  of  the  unauthorized  edition'  [meaning  King  James's  version]: 
that  on  his  declaring  'his  unwillingness  to  disobey  the  orders  of  his 
parents  and  violate  the  precepts  of  his  religion,'  the  teacher  chastised 
him  severely  with  her  ferule  and  then  expelled  him  ignominiously  from 
the  school." 

In  discussing  the  question  Superintendent  Randall  affirms  his  belief 
that  intellectual  and  religious  education  should  proceed  hand  in  hand, 
but  states  that  the  realization  of  this  ideal  in  the  common  schools  of  the 
country  had  met  with  serious  practical  obstacles.  The  government, 
realizing  the  necessity  of  universal  education  for  the  maintenance  of 
civil  and  political  institutions  and  not  willing  to  rely  upon  the  voluntary 
effort  of  individuals,  had  undertaken  to  organize  and  support  a  general 


MODIFICATION  OF  RELIGIOUS  CONCEPTION  OF  EDUCATION  71 

school  system.  The  common  schools  therefore  were  clearly  a  govern- 
ment institution,  and  to  introduce  into  them  a  course  of  religious  instruc- 
tion conformable  to  the  views  of  any  particular  denomination  would 
be  tantamount  to  a  religious  establishment.  It  was  also  impossible  to 
formulate  a  course  of  religious  instruction  which  would  be  acceptable  to 
all,  and  to  divide  the  school  moneys  among  the  various  sects  for  the 
establishment  of  schools  in  which  they  might  teach  respectively  their 
various  creeds  "  would  be,  in  the  sparsely  inhabited  country  districts,  to 
divide  the  children  within  the  territory  convenient  for  attendance  on  a 
single  school,  and  in  which  the  support  of  all  the  inhabitants  is  frequently 
scarcely  adequate,  with  the  aid  of  the  public  moneys,  to  sustain  a  single 
efficient  school  into  a  dozen  or  more  schools." 

The  following  paragraph  deserves  to  be  given  in  the  Superintendent's 
own  words:  "In  view  of  the  above  facts,  the  position  was  early,  dis- 
tinctly, and  almost  universally  taken  by  our  statesmen,  legislators  and 
prominent  friends  of  education — men  of  the  warmest  religious  zeal  and 
belonging  to  every  sect — that  religious  education  must  be  banished  from 
the  common  schools  and  consigned  to  the  family  and  the  church.  If  felt 
that  this  was  an  evil,  it  was  felt  that  it  was  the  least  one  of  which  the 
circumstances  admitted.  Accordingly,  instruction  in  our  schools  has 
been  limited  to  that  ordinarily  included  under  the  head  of  intellectual 
culture,  and  to  the  propagation  of  those  principles  of  morality  in  which 
all  sects,  and  good  men  belonging  to  no  sect,  can  equally  agree.  The 
tender  consciences  of  all  have  been  respected." 

The  report  of  1849  and  the  decision  of  Superintendent  Randall, 
1853,  come  to  the  same  conclusion.  The  former  considers  that  the 
province  of  the  common  school,  in  laying  the  foundations  of  character, 
is  to  inculcate  the  "comprehensive  principles  of  Christian  ethics  and 
morality."  The  latter  affirms  that  the  logic  of  history  calls  for  the 
banishment  of  religious  education  from  the  common  schools,  and  admits 
only  of  the  "propagation  of  those  principles  of  morality  in  which  all 
sects,  and  good  men  belonging  to  no  sect,  can  equally  agree." 

In  line  with  the  conclusions  just  reached  are  all  the  subsequent 
decisions  of  state  superintendents.  We  will  let  two  of  them  speak  here 
in  their  own  language.  In  1866,  Superintendent  Rice  handed  down  the 
following  decision:  "A  teacher  has  no  right  to  consume  any  portion  of 
the  regular  school  hours  in  conducting  religious  exercises,  especially 
where  objection  is  raised.  The  principle  is  this:  Common  schools  are 
supported  and  established  for  the  purpose  of  imparting  instruction  in 
the  common  English  branches;  religious  instruction  forms  no  part  of 


72  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION  IN   NEW  YORK  PUBLIC   SCHOOLS 

the  course.  The  proper  places  in  which  to  receive  such  instruction  are 
churches  and  Sunday  schools,  of  which  there  is  usually  a  sufficient  num- 
ber in  every  district.  The  money  to  support  schools  comes  from  the 
people  at  large,  irrespective  of  sect  or  denomination.  Consequently, 
instruction  of  a  sectarian  or  religious  denominational  character  must  be 
avoided,  and  teachers  must  confine  themselves,  during  school  hours,  to 
their  legitimate  and  proper  duties"  (circular  on  Bible  Reading  and 
Religious  Exercises  in  the  Public  Schools,  published  by  Commissioner  of 
Education,  A.  S.  Draper,  1906). 

In  connection  with  an  important  decision  on  the  subject,  Superin- 
tendent Weaver  (in  office  1868-71)  made  the  following  pronouncement: 
"  The  object  of  the  common  school  system  of  this  State  is  to  afford  means 
of  secular  instruction  to  all  children  over  5  and  under  21  years  of  age, 
resident  therein.  For  their  religious  training  the  State  does  not  provide, 
and  with  it  does  not  interfere.  The  advantages  of  the  schools  are  to  be 
free  to  them  all  alike.  No  distinction  is  to  be  made  between  Christians, 
whether  Protestants  or  Catholics,  and  the  consciences  of  none  can  be 
legally  violated.  There  is  no  authority  in  the  law  to  use,  as  a  matter  of 
right,  any  portion  of  the  regular  school  hours  in  conducting  any  religious 
exercise,  at  which  the  attendance  of  the  scholars  is  made  compulsory" 
(ibid.). 

These  decisions,  together  with  others  to  the  same  effect,  were  col- 
lected and  published  in  1906  by  Commissioner  of  Education  A.  S. 
Draper.  They  may  be  considered  therefore  to  represent  the  present 
policy  of  the  Department  of  Education  of  the  state  of  New  York.  They 
indicate  the  distance  traveled  from  1804  to  1906.  According  to  these 
decisions  and  deliverances,  formal  religious  instruction  and  the  more 
obtrusive  forms  of  religious  motive  are  no  longer  to  be  given  place  in 
the  schoolroom.  An  address  from  an  instructor  to  his  scholars,  calling 
attention  to  their  religious  responsibilities  and  pointing  out  the  religious 
value  of  the  various  branches  of  study,  would  meet  with  official  censure. 
The  highest  school  authority  of  the  state  has  declared  such  an  exercise 
to  be  out  of  harmony  with  the  purpose  and  program  of  common-school 
procedure.  Religious  instruction  and  worship  in  the  public  schools  of 
the  state  are  now  taboo. 


CHAPTER  IX 
THE  READING  OF  THE  BIBLE  IN  THE  PUBLIC  SCHOOLS 

After  the  legislature  had  enacted  the  law  of  1842,  denying  the  dis- 
tribution of  the  public  fund  to  schools  in  which  sectarian  doctrines  and 
tenets  should  be  taught,  the  controversy,  from  that  tune  on,  regarding 
religious  instruction,  centered  around  the  reading  of  the  Bible  in  the 
schools.  It  is  the  purpose  of  the  present  chapter  to  trace  the  develop- 
ment of  this  controversy  and  to  take  note  of  the  changing  emphasis  of 
public  opinion  relative  to  the  subject.  We  have  already  seen  that  the 
Bible  was  in  the  schools  of  New  York  from  its  earliest  settlement  by  the 
Dutch  and  English.  We  have  seen  also  that  the  law  of  1842,  while 
excluding  all  sectarian  instruction  from  the  schools,  made  no  reference 
to  the  Bible  question.  It  virtually  left  the  whole  subject  in  the  immedi- 
ate hands  of  the  people  of  the  districts  and  the  officers  they  might  elect 
to  take  charge  of  the  local  management  of  schools.  It  is  therefore  a 
matter  of  interest  to  understand  something  of  how  the  people  regarded 
the  use  of  the  Bible  in  the  schools  and  something  of  the  extent  of  its  use 
during  the  second  quarter  of  the  nineteenth  century. 

We  cannot  feel  that  our  information  on  this  subject  is  complete,  but 
such  statistics  as  we  have  are  worthy  of  consideration.  In  the  year  1826 
the  New  Testament  was  used  as  a  reader  in  the  schools  of  168  towns;  it 
was  used  in  216  towns  in  1829;  200  towns  in  1831;  in  166  towns  in  1832; 
in  124  towns  in  1835;  101  towns  in  1837;  and  in  109  towns  in  1838. 
Just  four  other  books  had  a  wider  circulation  in  the  schools  at  this  time. 
They  were  an  English  Reader,  DabolPs  Arithmetic,  Murray's  Grammar, 
and  Webster's  Spelling-Book.  In  1838,  they  took  precedence  of  the 
Testament  in  the  following  order:  Daboll's  Arithmetic  was  used  in  457 
towns,  the  English  Reader  in  437  towns,  Webster's  Spelling-Book  in  227 
towns,  and  Murray's  Grammar  in  209  towns  (Annual  Report  of  the 
Superintendent  of  Common  Schools  of  the  State  of  New  York,  for  1829,  p. 
58;  for  1831,  p.  71;  for  1838,  p.  147). 

After  the  law  of  1842  had  settled  the  question  of  sectarian  instruction, 
there  was  a  decided  effort  to  increase  the  use  of  the  Bible  in  the  schools. 
And  this,  in  the  first  place,  by  official  act.  On  February  7,  1842,  Samuel 
Young  was  appointed  Secretary  of  State,  in  which  capacity,  also,  he 
served  as  Superintendent  of  Common  Schools  (Randall,  p.  139).  To  an 

73 


74  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION  IN  NEW  YORK  PUBLIC   SCHOOLS 

inquirer,  some  time  in  the  year  of  his  appointment  (referred  to  in  Report 
of  State  Superintendent  of  Common  Schools,  January  12,  1843,  p.  255),  he 
set  forth  his  views  on  the  use  of  the  New  Testament  in  the  common 
schools.  In  this  communication  Superintendent  Young  expressed  his' 
regard  for  the  New  Testament  as  in  all  respects  a  suitable  book  to  be 
read  daily  in  the  schools,  and  earnestly  and  cordially  recommends  its 
general  introduction  for  that  purpose.  It  has  value  as  a  reading-book, 
because  of  the  purity  and  simplicity  of  its  English,  but  he  finds  even  a 
greater  value  in  the  moral  influences  it  is  capable  of  exerting.  Education 
is  something  more  than  instruction.  It  includes  the  training  and 
disciplining  of  all  the  faculties,  it  is  the  systematic  and  harmonious 
development  of  the  future  man  for  usefulness  and  for  happiness.  "It 
must  be  based  upon  knowledge  and  virtue;  and  its  gradual  advancement 
must  be  strictly  subordinated  to  those  cardinal  principles  of  morality 
which  are  nowhere  so  clearly,  and  distinctly,  and  beautifully  inculcated 
as  in  that  book  from  which  we  all  derive  our  common  faith.  The  highest 
and  most  finished  intellectual  cultivation,  in  the  absence  of  careful  and 
sound  moral  discipline,  can  never  accomplish  the  great  end  and  aim  of 
education.  It 'plays  round  the  head,  but  comes  not  near  the  heart.'  It 
may  constitute  the  accomplished  sceptic,  the  brilliant  libertine,  the 
splendid  criminal — but  can  never  bestow  upon  mankind  the  benefactors 
of  the  race,  the  enlightened  philosopher,  the  practical  statesman,  the 
bold  and  fearless  reformer.  The  nursery  and  family  fireside  may 
accomplish  much;  the  institutions  of  religion  may  exert  a  pervading 
influence;  but  what  is  commenced  in  the  hallowed  sanctuary  of  the 
domestic  circle,  and  periodically  inculcated  at  the  altar,  must  be  daily 
and  hourly  recognized  in  the  Common  Schools,  that  it  may  exert  an 
ever-present  influence — enter  into  and  form  part  of  every  act  of  the 
life — and  become  thoroughly  incorporated  with  the  rapidly  expanding 
character." 

In  no  other  book,  he  continues  in  substance,  shall  we  find  lessons  of 
innocence,  virtue,  purity,  and  integrity  comparable  to  those  already 
endeared,  we  may  hope,  to  the  best  affections  of  the  children,  in  the  New 
Testament.  There  is  no  more  exalted  standard  by  means  of  which 
parents  and  teachers  may  discharge  their  solemn  responsibility  of  form- 
ing and  molding  the  character  of  children  committed  to  their  care.  The 
direction  which  the  susceptible  mind  of  the  child  may  assume  in  the 
neglected  district  school  may  be  fraught  with  consequences  which  shall 
bring  about  permanent  advancement  of  society,  or  which  may  cast  a 
withering  and  hopeless  blight  over  the  fairest  prospects  of  humanity. 


READING  OF  THE  BIBLE  IN  THE  PUBLIC   SCHOOLS  75 

The  communication  concludes  as  follows:  "But  I  have  said  enough 
in  illustration  of  the  paramount  importance  which  I  attach  to  moral  and 
relig'ous  culture  in  our  schools;  and  I  trust  no  objections  will  be  inter- 
posed to  the  general  introduction  and  daily  use  of  the  TESTAMENT,  not 
only  in  yours,  but  in  every  other  school  in  the  State"  (quoted  in  Randall, 
p.  194). 

It  will  be  noted  that  this  communication  from  Superintendent  Young 
is  not  an  order  demanding  the  use  of  the  Testament  in  the  schools,  but 
rather  an  earnest  and  cordial  recommendation  to  that  effect.  Its  actual 
introduction  was  intrusted  to  the  disposition  of  the  people  in  the  local 
districts. 

At  the  request  of  Superintendent  Young  in  1843,  the  Superintendent 
of  Wayne  County,  P.  D.  Green,  submitted  a  report  on  the  use  of  the 
Bible  in  the  common  schools.  It  was  published  in  the  Annual  Report  of 
the  State  Superintendent  for  that  year  (pp.  667-69),  and  begins  with  the 
following  interesting  paragraph:  "In  the  selection  of  books  to  be  put  in 
the  hands  of  the  young,  the  greatest  care  ought  assuredly  to  be  used. 
No  book  should  be  recommended  until,  not  only  its  literary  merits  shall 
have  been  fully  ascertained,  but  also  its  moral  tendency  and  its  probable 
influence  upon  the  formation  of  the  youthful  character.  In  regard  to 
the  use  of  the  Bible  as  a  text- book,  it  seems  strange  that  any  objection 
should  ever  have  been  urged.  Setting  aside  its  moral  worth,  its  literary 
merit  places  it  among  the  first,  if  not  the  very  first,  of  those  books  which 
it  is  proper  to  introduce  into  our  common  schools.  There  is  no  book 
extant  so  distinguished  for  its  pure  Saxon  Language  as  the  Bible.  It 
may  in  truth  be  called  a  splendid  exemplification  of  our  mother  tongue. 
Its  style  at  once  pure,  clear  and  forcible,  renders  it  easy  of  understanding, 
and  fits  it  in  an  eminent  degree  for  the  use  of  the  young.  As  a  book  for 
critical,  rhetorical  exercises,  it  would  be  invaluable.  Its  variety  of  style, 
its  life-like  delineation  of  character  and  simple  narration  of  events,  the 
clearness  and  energy  of  the  didactic  portions,  and  the  unequalled  sub- 
limity of  other  parts,  give  to  the  Bible  the  highest  claim  upon  the  atten- 
tion of  such  as  would  become  thoroughly  acquainted  with  the  nature 
and  power  of  our  language." 

In  the  next  place,  the  report  discusses  the  value  of  the  Bible  from  the 
point  of  view  of  historical  study.  It  is  regarded  as  the  only  source  of 
information  for  the  three  thousand  years  after  creation.  After  this  we 
are  told  that  the  highest  value  of  the  Bible  consists  in  the  fact  that  it  is 
the  word  of  inspiration  from  on  high,  containing  precepts  and  instruction 
of  the  utmost  importance  to  man  as  an  accountable  being.  Such  is  the 


76  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION  IN  NEW  YORK  PUBLIC  SCHOOLS 

constitution  of  man  that  he  cannot  reach  his  proper  rank  and  dignity 
on  the  basis  of  a  mere  intellectual  education.  His  moral  and  religious 
faculties  must  be  cultivated,  and  no  book  can  afford  such  aid  as  the 
Bible.  It  is  the  standard  in  matters  of  religion,  also  of  whatever  is  just 
and  upright  in  character  and  sound  in  morals.  The  study  of  the  Bible 
therefore  cannot  fail  of  exerting  a  highly  beneficial  influence  upon  the 
young.  It  should  be  read  in  the  schools  daily  in  a  reverent  and  solemn 
manner.  Teachers  should  show  proper  regard  for  it  as  a  book  of  divine 
inspiration.  In  this  way  it  will  be  greatly  beneficial  both  to  pupils  and 
teachers.  In  corroboration  of  this  view,  Mr.  Green  refers  to  the  opinions 
of  others  and  says:  "Very  many  teachers  whom  I  have  consulted  have 
most  fully  acquiesced.  They  uniformly  testify,  that  whenever  the 
Bible  is  introduced  and  treated  as  the  Word  of  God,  its  purifying  and 
ennobling  influence  is  seen  both  in  teacher  and  pupils." 

The  report  also  calls  attention  to  the  value  of  the  Bible  for  devotional 
exercises  in  the  morning,  and  concludes  with  the  following  statement:  "I 
would  therefore  suggest,  that  the  Bible  be  recommended  as  a  text-book 
for  the  more  advanced  classes,  and  that  its  general  adoption  in  our  com- 
mon schools  for  purposes  of  worship,  be  strongly  urged." 

The  two  reports  named  above — that  of  Superintendent  Young  and 
that  of  P.  D.  Green,  of  Wayne  County — recognize  the  value  of  the  Bible 
for  literary,  moral,  and  religious  culture,  and  were  no  doubt  effective  in 
the  wider  use  of  the  sacred  volume  in  the  common  schools. 

The  second  influence  making  for  the  wider  use  of  the  Bible  at  this 
time  is  seen  in  the  effort  made  to  increase  the  moral  value  of  common- 
school  education.  This  was  in  the  year  1843,  and  had  its  beginning  in 
the  special  appointment  from  the  State  Superintendent  of  Francis 
Dwight,  Deputy  of  Albany  County,  to  report  on  the  condition  of  moral 
education  in  the  schools.  After  pointing  out  the  great  need  of  such 
education,  Mr.  Dwight  proceeds  to  suggest  how  it  may  be  effected.  In 
part  the  mode  of  procedure  is  as  follows:  "The  opening  of  the  schools  by 
the  teacher  reverently  reading  a  short  passage  from  the  Bible,  and 
repeating  in  concert  with  his  pupils  a  few  great  moral  precepts,  relating 
to  the  various  duties  to  parents,  to  each  other,  and  to  God,  has  become 
the  custom  of  almost  every  school  in  this  county.  Its  happy  and  power- 
ful influence  has  been  acknowledged  by  many  teachers,  discipline  becom- 
ing easier  and  more  efficient,  and  duty  more  cheerfully  done"  (Report  of 
State  Superintendent  for  1843,  p.  130). 

The  Deputy  of  Montgomery  County,  in  report  to  the  State  Superin- 
tendent in  1843,  urges  the  importance  of  moral  education  in  the  schools. 


READING  OF  THE  BIBLE  IN  THE  PUBLIC   SCHOOLS  77 

Not  the  social  circle,  nor  the  Sunday  school,  nor  the  pulpit  can  accom- 
plish this  work.  At  least,  in  his  opinion,  they  have  not  done  so.  It  is 
the  moral  principles  of  the  Bible  which  he  wishes  taught,  and  expresses 
his  great  satisfaction  with  Superintendent  Young's  circular  recom- 
mending the  New  Testament  as  a  textbook  in  the  schools  (ibid.,  pp. 

435  f-). 

The  two  deputies  of  Delaware  County  in  their  report  to  the  State 
Superintendent,  1843  (p.  230),  flatter  themselves  that  there  has  been  a 
decided  improvement  in  the  condition  of  moral  education  in  the  schools 
of  the  county  within  the  past  year.  In  their  last  report  they  regarded 
the  schools  of  the  county  as  exerting  only  a  negative  influence  upon  the 
morals  of  society.  The  Scriptures,  and  especially  the  New  Testament, 
are  considered  the  best  system  of  morality  extant,  and  a  thorough 
acquaintance  with  the  pure  precepts  of  this  admirable  book  cannot  help, 
they  think,  but  exert  a  beneficial  influence  in  the  formation  of  character. 
It  thus  becomes  indispensable  to  the  proper  education  of  the  children  of 
this  republic.  In  their  first  visits  to  the  schools  of  the  county,  they  were 
surprised  to  find  that  in  very  many  instances  the  Scriptures  were  not 
even  used  as  a  textbook,  and  were  not  to  be  found  in  the  schools.  But 
at  the  present  time,  the  report  continues,  they  are  used  daily  and  almost 
universally,  not  so  much  as  a  textbook  for  reading  exercises,  as  a  book  of 
standard  rules  for  the  regulation  of  conduct. 

The  Deputy  of  Livingston  County,  reporting  to  the  State  Superin- 
tendent in  1843  (p.  342),  expresses  his  conviction  of  the  necessity  of  good 
morals  and  the  early  inculcation  of  moral  principles.  Accordingly  he 
had  made  it  his  duty  to  find  out  to  what  extent  these  principles  were  being 
inculcated  and  practiced  in  the  schools.  He  found  that  the  Scriptures 
were  read  in  but  few  schools  during  the  previous  year.  The  past  fall  the 
matter  was  discussed  at  conventions,  and,  through  fear  of  sectarianism, 
an  attitude  adverse  to  their  introduction  into  the  schoolroom  was  mani- 
fested on  the  part  of  some.  This  difficulty  was  obviated  and  the  reading 
of  the  Scriptures  secured  by  recommending  to  teachers  that  they  be  read 
without  comment.  He  is  now  able  to  report  that  during  the  last  summer 
(1843)  nearly  all  the  schools  in  the  ten  towns  visited  listened  daily,  as  a 
morning  exercise,  to  the  reading  of  the  Bible. 

In  this  connection  should  be  mentioned  a  state  convention  of  County 
Superintendents,  held  at  Syracuse,  1845.  The  following  resolution  was 
proposed:  "Resolved,  That  this  Convention  regard  the  introduction  of 
the  Bible  into  schools  as  an  object  earnestly  to  be  desired;  but  that  the 
time  and  manner  in  which  this  object  is  to  be  accomplished  is  a  question 


78  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION  IN  NEW  YORK  PUBLIC   SCHOOLS 

which  ought  to  be  decided  by  the  inhabitants  of  the  districts;  and  that 
in  all  measures  for  the  promotion  of  moral  and  religious  culture  in  our 
schools,  sacred  regard  ought  to  be  had  for  the  rights,  and  tenderness 
manifested  toward  the  scruples  and  prejudices  of  all."  This  resolution, 
with  the  modification  that  county  superintendents  urgently  use  their 
influence  for  the  daily  reading  of  the  Bible  in  all  the  schools  of  the  state, 
was  unanimously  adopted  (Randall,  pp.  200,  207). 

All  this  time,  however,  in  the  City  of  New  York,  there  seems  to  have 
been  a  strenuous  effort  going  on  to  exclude  the  Bible  from  the  schools. 
The  law  of  1842  had  decided  against  all  sectarian  books  and  sectarian 
teaching,  and  the  warfare  against  the  Bible  was  now  proceeding  on  the 
ground  that  it  was  a  sectarian  book.  The  report  of  the  Superintendent 
of  Schools  for  the  City  and  County  of  New  York  to  the  State  Superin- 
tendent, 1843,  was  a  bitter  cry  against  this  movement.  He  declares  it 
to  be  one  of  the  unhappy  consequences  of  the  new  law  that  "  the  Bible 
has  been  banished  in  several  instances,  while  it  has  never  been  permitted 
to  enter  most  of  the  district  schools  that  have  been  organized."  And 
while  he  does  not  wish  to  be  regarded  as  holding  the  view  that  common 
schools  should  be  converted  into  religious  assemblies,  nevertheless  he 
thinks  they  should,  in  the  broad  sense  of  the  term,  be  Christian 
schools,  and  therefore  the  banishment  of  the  Bible  therefrom  cannot 
be  regarded  otherwise  than  striking  at  the  very  foundations  of  our 
school  edifice. 

Describing  the  actual  situation,  the  report  goes  on  to  speak  of  one  of 
the  ward  schools,  where  a  large  majority  of  the  pupils  were  children  of 
Catholic  parents.  The  Douay  version  of  the  Bible,  for  a  time,  was 
allowed  to  be  read  on  every  alternate  morning.  But  it  was  not  long  till 
the  school  officers  of  the  ward  yielded  to  the  objections  against  both 
versions,  and  both  were  thus  discontinued. 

The  report  further  affirms:  "I  have  stated  in  my  report  to  the  Board 
of  Education  that  the  Bible  was  banished  from  the  Manhattenville 
Academy  in  June  last,  upon  the  pretext,  contained  in  a  written  order, 
that  it  is  a  sectarian  book!  In  the  same  report  I  have  enumerated  the 
several  district  schools  into  which  it  has  never  been  allowed  to  enter. 
The  number,  as  compared  with  the  whole,  you  will  perceive  is  large" 
(Annual  Report  of  the  State  Superintendent  for  1843,  pp.  415-17). 

The  report  named  above  was  made  in  1843.  The  following  year  a 
pamphlet,  entitled  An  Honest  Appeal  to  Every  Voter,  was  circulated  in 
the  City  of  New  York  (in  the  Astor  Library).  This  brief  document  has 
value,  showing  not  only  something  of  the  effort  to  exclude  the  Bible  from 


READING  OF  THE  BIBLE  IN  THE  PUBLIC   SCHOOLS  79 

the  schools,  but  also  how  the  question  had  become  complicated  with 
politics.    The  circular  begins  with  exclamations  of  horror: 

"This  is  the  question!  the  great  question!  which,  most  of  all,  concerns 
the  voters  of  this  city,  at  the  approaching  election.  All  other  questions 
are  insignificant  compared  with  this.  Shall  a  foreign  Pope,  through  his 
sworn  vassal,  Bishop  Hughes,  deprive  our  children  of  the  Bible  in  the 
Public  Schools?  Let  every  American  father  and  mother  ponder  this 
question. 

"The  deed  is  done!  The  Holy  Bible  is  condemned!  and  expelled 
from  thirty-three  schools!  and  Americans  and  Protestants  have  been 
found  base  enough  to  buy  up  the  Irish  Roman  Catholic  votes,  by  tamely 
submitting  to  this  outrage,  and  have  themselves  perpetrated  this  deed 
of  infamy! 

"The  new  school  law,  which  has  already  taxed  our  citizens  a  Quarter 
Of  A  Million  Dollars!  for  new  schools,  from  which  the  Holy  Bible  is 
excluded,  was  passed  at  the  dictation  of  Bishop  Hughes  and  other  Roman 
Catholic  Priests,  who  it  is  notorious  were  closeted  with  Maclay  and 
other  corrupt  and  infidel  politicians,  when  the  law  was  framed  thus  to 
rob  our  children  of  the  Bible  in  our  schools!" 

The  report  of  the  City  Superintendent  to  the  Board  of  Education  is 
inserted  at  this  point.  It  goes  on  to  show  that  the  Bible  had  been 
termed  a  sectarian  book  by  the  commissioners  and  inspectors  of  certain 
of  the  ward  schools  and  that  on  this  ground  had  been  excluded  from 
thirty-three  of  these  schools.  All  this  is  regarded  wholly  contrary  to 
law.  The  circular  continues  again: 

"And  now,  fellow  citizens  of  any  and  every  party,  if  you  have  read 
this  official  report  of  the  Superintendent  of  Common  Schools  for  the 
City  and  County  of  New  York,  it  becomes  you  to  act  at  the  coming 
election  as  if  the  Bible  in  the  schools  depended  upon  your  single  vote. 

"Ask  yourselves  whether  any  republic  ever  existed  or  flourished 
without  the  Bible !  Is  freedom  any  where  found  upon  the  earth  at  the 
present  hour,  in  any  country  where  the  Bible  is  a  prohibited  book? 
Can  a  child  be  educated  for  a  citizen  of  America,  who  is  not  taught  to 
reverence  the  Bible  ?  Is  there  any  sanctity  in  an  oath  in  our  Courts  of 
Justice,  unless  the  Bible  is  venerated  as  the  Book  of  God  ?  And  whose 
property,  liberty,  or  life  would  be  safe,  for  a  single  hour,  if  men  are  not 
taught  to  regard  the  Bible  with  reverence  and  awe  ?" 

The  charge  is  made  by  the  circular  that  the  Democratic  party  is  in 
collusion  with  the  Catholics,  and  that  to  them,  as  a  reward  for  their 
support,  had  been  promised  the  exclusion  of  the  Bible  from  the  public 


8o  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION  IN  NEW  YORK  PUBLIC   SCHOOLS 

schools.  Voters  are  called  upon  to  ignore  party  ties  and  cast  their  ballot 
for  the  best  interest  of  their  native  land  and  for  the  Bible  in  the  public 
schools.  The  circular  does  not  seem  to  have  been  written  in  the  interest 
of  any  party,  but  rather  in  behalf  of  the  Bible  in  the  schools.  And 
though  it  may  have  been  in  the  nature  of  campaign  literature,  the  subject 
discussed  must  have  been  a  point  at  issue,  else  the  pamphlet  would  have 
been  to  no  purpose.  It  seems  therefore  unquestionable  evidence  that, 
on  the  ground  of  being  a  sectarian  book,  the  Bible  was  in  some  measure 
being  excluded  from  the  public  schools  of  the  City  of  New  York,  and 
that  this  movement  was  complicated  with  politics. 

George  B.  Cheever,  D.D.,  writing  in  New  York  City,  1854,  fully 
corroborates  the  implications  of  the  circular  just  described.  He  thus 
characterizes  the  political  aspects  of  the  question:  "It  is  impossible,  and 
perhaps  it  would  be  useless,  in  this  place,  to  go  into  a  history  of  the 
introduction  of  the  Romish  and  political  element  into  the  management 
of  a  system  of  public  education,  that  ought  to  be  so  high  and  sacred 
above  all  sectarian  and  political  intrigue.  We  will  not  enter  on  the 
detail  of  the  conflicts  fought,  the  schemes  presented,  the  influences  used, 
the  conferences  of  the  school  authorities  with  Bishop  Hughes,  the  sub- 
mission to  his  inspection  of  all  the  school  literature  for  consideration,  the 
disgraceful  blackening  of  the  school  books  by  Romish  expurgation,  and 
the  partial  and  temporary  giving  up  of  the  school  system  to  the  dictation 
of  Romish  priests"  (The  Bible  in  Our  Common  Schools,  p.  229). 

As  an  illustration  of  the  procedure  which  had  for  its  object  the  exclu- 
sion of  the  Bible  from  the  schools,  the  following  written  order  from  the 
trustees,  served  upon  a  teacher  of  New  York  City,  will  be  instructive: 
"Sir  By  unanimos  vote  of  the  trustees  Last  Meeting  all  Secterian  Books 
is  Requisted  to  Bee  Removed  from  the  School  as  it  is  thaught  the  Bibl  one 
it  is  Requisted  to  Bee  Removed"  (quoted  in  Cheever,  p.  217). 

The  spelling,  capitals,  and  want  of  punctuation  in  this  order  from 
the  "trustees"  do  not  very  highly  recommend  the  qualifications  of  at 
least  some  of  the  men  who  at  this  time  were  in  control  of  public  education 
in  the  metropolis  of  the  empire  state.  It  is  nevertheless  another  link  in 
the  chain  of  evidence  against  the  use  of  the  Bible  in  the  schools. 

The  report  of  the  Superintendent  of  Schools  for  the  County  and  City 
of  New  York,  the  pamphlet  entitled  An  Honest  Appeal  to  Every  Voter, 
and  the  statements  of  George  B.  Cheever,  all  agree  in  the  opinion  that, 
consequent  upon  the  law  of  1842,  an  effort  was  made  in  the  City  of  New 
York  to  exclude  the  Bible  from  the  public  schools  of  that  municipality, 
on  the  ground  of  its  being  a  sectarian  book.  But,  as  one  might  expect, 


READING   OF   THE  BIBLE  IN  THE  PUBLIC   SCHOOLS  8 1 

this  was  only  one  side  of  the  question.  Fortunately  we  have  a  special 
report  from  the  Board  of  Education,  dealing  with  the  matter  from  the 
point  of  view  of  that  body.  It  is  the  report  of  the  special  committee  on 
the  communications  of  the  County  Superintendent,  relative  to  the  use 
of  the  Bible  in  the  public  schools  of  the  city  (in  the  Astor  Library,  dated 
December  n,  1844). 

We  are  informed  by  this  special  committee  that  the  superintendent 
in  question  had  presented  two  reports  to  the  board — one  on  October  30, 
another  on  November  13,  1843.  It  is  claimed  that  he  showed  ignorance 
of  the  law  denning  his  duty,  and  consequently  had  gone  considerably 
beyond  his  powers,  the  climax  of  his  arrogance  being  reached  when  he 
reported  the  schools  of  the  fourth  and  fourteenth  wards  as  having  for- 
feited all  claim  to  the  school  fund,  because  of  neglecting  to  read  the 
Scriptures  at  the  opening  of  the  morning  session.  The  report  continues: 
"Although  the  Bible  is  not  read  at  the  opening  of  all  the  schools,  it 
cannot  be  said  to  be  excluded  from  any  one  of  them;  any  child  may 
bring  his  Bible  without  let  or  hindrance.  The  ward  officers  are  in  no 
instance  prevented  from  introducing  the  Bible  into  their  schools,  if  they 

should  think  proper  to  do  so All  that  the  friends  of  the  Bible 

have  ever  asked  from  the  State  in  its  behalf,  is  that  every  legal  obstacle 
to  its  free  use  may  be  removed  and  that  the  schools  may  not  be  pro- 
hibited from  using  it.  The  power  of  propagating  the  Gospel,  with  its 
sanctifying  and  hallowing  influences,  was  never  intended  to  be  wielded 
by  Legislative  authority,  in  any  form  or  under  any  circumstances." 
The  report  further  continues:  "It  is  the  opinion  of  your  Committee, 
that  the  use  or  non  use  of  the  Bible  in  the  schools,  is  left  by  the  law 
entirely  at  the  discretion  of  the  officers  elected  in  the  several  wards,  and 
the  several  societies  and  corporations  who  participate  in  the  apportion- 
ment, and  they  are  all  at  liberty  to  pursue  such  a  course  as  their  own 
sense  of  duty  and  the  peculiar  circumstances  of  their  schools  may  dictate 
to  them,  as  most  expedient." 

It  was  contended  that  the  only  authority  of  the  Board  in  this  connec- 
tion was  to  withdraw  the  apportionment  from  schools  in  which  religious 
sectarian  tenets  or  doctrines  are  taught,  inculcated,  or  practiced,  or  in 
which  any  books  of  a  sectarian  character  are  read.  It  was  further 
maintained  that  comparatively  there  were  only  a  small  number  of  ward 
schools  in  the  city  in  which  the  "salutary  custom"  of  reading  the  Bible 
did  not  prevail.  And  these  schools  were  made  up  almost  wholly  of 
Catholic  children,  whose  parents  hitherto  had  been  unwilling  to  send  them, 
and  while  sectarian  teaching  was  not  allowed,  "Bible  lessons  and  Scrip- 


82  RELIGIOUS   EDUCATION  IN  NEW  YORK  PUBLIC   SCHOOLS 

ture  histories  are  among  their  class  books."  The  Committee  considers 
this  to  be  a  matter  of  congratulation,  especially  when  it  is  remembered 
that  "all  the  other  schools  in  the  city  are  permitted  to  enjoy  unmolested 
all  the  advantages  which  may  be  derived  from  the  public  reading  of  a 
chapter  in  the  Bible,  once  or  twice  a  day." 

The  following  resolutions  were  recommended  for  adoption: 

"Resolved,  That  the  Board  of  Education  has  no  power  under  the 
present  law  to  determine  what  books  shall  be  read  in  the  public  or  Ward 
schools  in  this  city  or  county,  that  power  being  left  entirely  in  the  hands 
of  the  school  officers  of  the  several  Wards,  and  the  trustees  or  managers 
of  the  several  schools  or  societies,  who  are  authorized  by  law  to  share  in 
the  apportionment  of  the  school  moneys. 

"Resolved,  That  the  Board  of  Education  do  hereby  recommend  to 
the  trustees  and  managers  of  all  schools  under  their  supervision,  the 
reading  of  a  chapter  from  the  Bible,  without  note  or  comment,  at  the 
commencement  of  each  of  their  morning  and  afternoon  sessions,  this 
resolution  not  being  intended  as  a  recommendation  of  any  particular 
version  of  the  Holy  Scriptures." 

It  is  plain  to  see  that  the  Board  of  Education  and  the  City  Superin- 
tendent were  not  in  accord  on  the  question  of  reading  the  Bible  in  the 
schools.  Apparently  the  Superintendent  was  a  representative  of  the 
extreme  Protestant  view,  which  held  that,  at  all  hazards,  the  King  James 
version  of  the  Scriptures  should  be  read  in  the  schools.  The  Board  of 
Education,  whatever  its  political  affiliation  may  have  been,  represented 
a  more  liberal  view.  It  held,  as  stated  above,  that  the  use  or  non-use  of 
the  Bible  was  a  matter  that  pertained  to  the  officers  of  the  district,  and 
that  they  should  determine  from  the  particular  circumstances  of  their 
schools  what  might  be  most  expedient  in  any  given  case.  Nevertheless 
the  Superintendent  "  advised,  counselled,  recommended,  and  remon- 
strated, terminating  his  official  labors  by  invoking  the  interposition  of 
the  Legislature"  (quoted  in  Cheever,  p.  216)  to  preserve  the  Bible  from 
being  turned  out  of  the  schools.  In  response  to  his  efforts  an  amend- 
ment to  the  school  law  was  passed,  May  7,  1844,  to  the  following  effect: 
"But  nothing  herein  contained  shall  authorize  the  board  of  education  to 
exclude  the  holy  scriptures  without  note  or  comment,  or  any  selections 
therefrom,  from  any  of  the  schools  provided  for  by  this  act.  But  it  shall 
not  be  competent  for  the  said  board  of  education  to  decide  what  version, 
if  any,  of  the  holy  scriptures  without  note  or  comment,  shall  be  used  in 
any  of  the  said  schools;  provided  that  nothing  herein  contained  shall  be 
so  constructed  as  to  violate  the  rights  of  conscience  as  secured  by  the 


READING   OF   THE   BIBLE   IN  THE   PUBLIC   SCHOOLS  83 

constitution  of  this  state  and  the  United  States"  (Laws  of  New  York, 
1844,  last  part  of  sec.  12,  p.  494). 

This  provision  was  also  embodied  in  the  act  of  1851,  to  amend,  con- 
solidate, and  reduce  to  one  act  the  various  acts  relative  to  the  common 
schools  of  the  City  of  New  York  (Laws  of  New  York,  1851,  p.  745).  It 
was  likewise  embodied  in  the  charter  of  Greater  New  York  in  1897,  and 
in  the  revision  of  1901.  The  subsequent  laws  of  the  State  of  New  York 
have  been  searched  in  vain  to  find  any  modification  in  this  statute.  It 
is  therefore  presumed  that  the  provision  of  1844,  relative  to  the  reading 
of  the  Bible  in  the  public  schools  of  the  City  of  New  York,  is  still  in 
force. 

It  must  be  noted,  however,  that  the  law  of  1844  is  wholly  negative  in 
its  character.  It  confers  no  powers,  but  simply  denies  to  the  Board  of 
Education  the  right  to  exclude  the  Bible  from  the  schools.  What  was 
the  occasion  of  this  law  is  hard  to  ascertain,  as  there  seems  to  be  no 
evidence  of  any  such  move  on  the  part  of  the  board.  Jurisdiction  in  the 
matter  was  left  just  where  it  was  before — in  the  hands  of  the  people  of 
the  districts.  A  former  judge  of  the  Supreme  Court  thus  characterizes 
the  act  in  question:  "That  statute,  however,  did  not  direct  or  recom- 
mend the  reading  of  the  Bible  in  the  schools,  but  only  forbade  the 
commissioners  of  schools  to  exclude  it,  by  such  confused  phraseology  as 
makes  it  difficult  of  interpretation — -enacting  a  muddle  to  quiet  a  muss 
existing  between  the  Protestants  and  Catholics,  on  the  subject  of  scrip- 
ture reading  in  the  city  schools"  (Hurlbut,  A  Secular  View  of  Religion  in 
the  State,  p.  32). 

Reference  has  already  been  made  to  the  state  convention  of  County 
Superintendents,  held  at  Syracuse,  February  3,  1845.  In  a  speech  at 
this  convention,  on  behalf  of  the  Bible  in  the  schools,  Dr.  D.  M.  Reese, 
Superintendent  from  the  County  and  City  of  New  York,  declared  that 
in  spite  of  the  recent  law  the  controversy  was  still  pending  in  the  city  he 
represented.  On  his  last  official  visit  to  the  schools,  he  found  thirty- 
three  of  these  institutions  organized  under  the  new  law,  from  which  the 
Bible  had  been  excluded  as  a  sectarian  book.  After  representing  these 
facts  to  the  ward  officers,  and  finding  that  they  would  take  no  action  in 
the  matter,  he  notified  the  Board  of  Education  that  the  schools  in  ques- 
tion had  forfeited  their  right  to  the  public  money.  But  these  schools 
for  the  time  being  had  continued  to  share  in  the  public  bounty.  His 
next  move  had  been  to  bring  the  subject  to  the  consideration  of  a  public 
meeting,  at  which  over  five  thousand  had  been  present.  The  matter 
was  then  brought  before  the  common  council,  and  an  ordinance  was 


84  RELIGIOUS   EDUCATION  IN   NEW  YORK  PUBLIC   SCHOOLS 

passed,  denying  any  share  in  the  public  money  to  all  schools  from  which 
the  Bible  had  been  excluded  (Randall,  pp.  202,  204). 

For  the  next  ten  years  after  1845,  according  to  official  evidence,  the 
reading  of  the  Bible  in  the  schools  seems  to  have  progressed  without  any 
considerable  interruption.  The  Superintendent  of  Common  Schools  for 
the  County  and  City  of  New  York  reported  in  1850  as  follows:  "The 
practice  of  opening  the  schools  by  reverently  reading  a  portion  of  the 
sacred  Scriptures,  is  in  general  use.  There  are,  however,  some  few  excep- 
tions— but  in  the  schools  where  this  good  custom  prevails,  no  one 
objects;  and  in  the  few  where  the  custom  does  not  prevail,  they  are  not 
the  more  prosperous  on  that  account.  The  common  sentiment  of  the 
community  is  in  favor  of  reading  the  Bible  without  note  or  comment,  at 
the  opening  of  the  schools  in  the  morning"  (Annual  Report  of  the  State 
Superintendent  for  1850,  p.  120). 

In  1852  the  Superintendent  of  the  County  and  City  of  New  York, 
after  speaking  of  the  exclusion  by  law  of  all  books  inculcating  sectarian 
dogmas,  continues  his  report  as  follows:  "The  sacred  Scriptures  are  not 
included  in  this  category;  and  while  the  Board,  at  their  discretion,  feel 
at  liberty  to  allow  or  disallow  the  work  of  any  mere  man,  they  would  not 
use  compulsory  measures  with  regard  to  this  good  book,  but  content 
themselves  by  recommending  its  reverent  use  at  the  opening  of  the 

schools  in  the  morning  of  each  day It  is  gratifying  to  observe 

that  very  few  schools  are  without  this  book  of  books"  (Annual  Report  of 
the  State  Superintendent,  dated  January  28,  1852,  p.  131). 

Again  the  Superintendent  from  New  York  City  and  County  reports 
in  1855  that  "with  very  few  exceptions,  the  several  schools  are  opened 
at  nine  o'clock  A.M.  by  reading  the  Scriptures,  after  which  the  Lord's 
Prayer  is  reverently  repeated  by  the  pupils,  after  the  teacher,  and  a 
hymn  of  praise  and  thanksgiving  sung,  accompanied  by  the  piano;  after 
which  the  pupils  are  remanded  to  their  respective  class-rooms"  (Annual 
Report  of  the  State  Superintendent,  December  i,  1855,  p.  131). 

But  we  are  not  to  suppose  that  the  reading  of  the  Bible  in  the  schools 
was  now  unchallenged.  In  1854  a  bill  was  introduced  in  the  legislature 
for  the  daily  reading  of  the  Bible  in  the  common  schools  of  the  state. 
In  the  remarks  of  Hon.  Joseph  W.  Savage,  of  New  York  City,  in  favor 
of  the  bill  (pamphlet  in  Astor  Library,  New  York  City),  it  is  alleged  that 
"we  have  heretofore,  legislated  in  some  measure  to  please  at  least  one 
sect.  We  have  permitted  what  any  other  nation  in  the  world  that 
recognizes  the  Christian  religion,  would  never  have  allowed.  We  have 
suffered  the  Bible  to  be  banished  from  many  of  our  State  Schools,  have 


READING  OF   THE  BIBLE  IN  THE  PUBLIC   SCHOOLS  85 

shut  out  from  the  children  of  those  schools,  the  very  book  that  all 
denominations  of  Christians  make  the  foundation  of  their  faith,  and 
strange  as  it  may  seem,  out  of  tenderness  toward  the  consciences  of  a 
Christian  sect." 

In  discussing  this  matter  further,  Mr.  Savage  continues:  "We  first 
excluded  the  New  England  catechism,  this  was  yielded  as  soon  as  it  was 
objected  to  because  it  was  sectarian,  and  inculcated  a  particular  creed. 
We  then  excluded  all  books  in  which  there  was  any  religious  discussion. 
This  was  yielded  for  the  same  reason.  We  then  excluded  all  books  that 
spoke  harshly  of  the  Roman  Catholic  creed.  Though  this  is  a  protestant 

country,  we  yielded  that  too But  we  have  done  more  than  this, 

we  have  banished  from  some  of  our  schools,  some  of  the  choicest  English 
literature  because  it  was  offensive  to  the  Roman  Catholic  taste.  We 
have  excluded  impartial  history  because  it  spoke  of  the  despotism  of  the 
Roman  Church.  We  have  mutilated  books,  and  have  blotted  clearly 
authenticated  facts,  for  fear  of  offending  the  conscience  of  this  denomina- 
tion or  of  exciting  prejudice  against  the  career  of  that  Church  in  times 
long  past.  In  this  we  have  committed  a  grievous  error." 

The  bill  however  failed  of  passage,  as  no  record  of  it  is  found  in  the 
laws  of  the  state.  It  was  merely  an  episode  in  the  long-continued  con- 
troversy about  reading  the  Bible  in  the  schools,  and  is  referred  to  here 
merely  as  evidence  that  the  question  was  still  alive  in  1854. 

An  echo  of  this  controversy  comes  to  our  ears  again  in  1858.  In  that 
year  a  pamphlet  written  by  a  "New-Yorker"  was  circulated  through  the 
city.  It  attempts  to  give  a  review  of  the  school  legislation  of  the  state, 
and  charges  that  the  legislature  had  been  hoodwinked  by  the  Romanists, 
so  as  to  pass  educational  legislation  in  their  favor.  It  charges  also  that 
the  Board  of  Education  was  under  the  control  of  the  Catholics  of  the 
city,  and  that  consequently  the  Bible  was  being  put  out  of  the  schools. 
It  is  stated  that  by  recent  resolution  of  the  officers  of  the  Fourth  Ward, 
embracing  a  district  of  forty  thousand  inhabitants,  four  school  buildings, 
and  fifty-four  teachers,  the  Bible  had  been  voted  out  of  the  schools  of  this 
section.  It  is  the  opinion  of  the  writer  of  this  pamphlet  that  the  Board 
of  Education  had  authority  to  enforce  the  reading  of  the  Bible  in  the 
schools,  and  that  the  action  of  the  ward  officers  was  illegal. 

The  responsibility  of  this  situation  is  laid  upon  the  Romanists,  and 
the  voters  of  the  city  are  called  upon  to  change  the  personnel  of  the 
Board  of  Education.  It  is  alleged  that  the  Romanists  have  made  the 
matter  a  party  question,  in  order  to  keep  themselves  in  power.  A 
member  of  the  Board,  who  was  asked  by  the  writer  why  he  had  voted 


86  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION  IN  NEW  YORK  PUBLIC   SCHOOLS 

against  the  Bible,  replied:  "I  am  not  opposed  to  the  reading  of  the 
Bible  in  the  schools — only  I  had  no  time  to  see  how  my  party  stood  on 
the  question." 

This  writer,  while  reflecting  an  unsettled  situation  in  regard  to 
reading  the  Bible  in  the  public  schools,  is,  after  all,  extreme  in  his  view. 
The  Romanists  were  against  the  Bible  in  the  schools,  but  they  were  not 
alone  in  this  contention.  The  "New-Yorker"  has  not  come  up  to  the 
full  measure  of  the  principle  of  religious  liberty.  He  does  not  seem  to 
have  sufficient  regard  for  the  rights  and  privileges  of  his  Roman  Catholic 
fellow-citizens  (The  Legislature  Hood-winked  by  the  Romanists,  Astor 
Library). 

This  then  seems  to  be  the  status  of  Bible-reading  in  the  public  schools 
of  New  York.  For  the  state  at  large  there  is  no  legal  enactment.  And 
the  special  provision  for  the  City  of  New  York,  to  say  the  least,  is  con- 
siderably elastic  in  its  nature.  It  confers  upon  the  Board  of  Education 
no  authority  to  introduce  the  Bible  into  the  schools,  but  simply  denies  it 
the  right  of  excluding  the  Bible  and  of  determining  the  kind  of  version 
used.  There  were  those  at  the  tune  who  contended  that  the  law  in 
question  did  empower  the  Board  of  Education  to  put  the  Bible  in  the 
schools,  but  the  measure  itself  is  plain,  and  such  an  interpretation 
can  have  no  other  source  than  the  bias  of  partisan  feeling.  The  real 
law  on  the  subject  seems  to  be  public  opinion.  Whether  or  not  the 
policy  be  sound,  the  legislature  of  the  state  has  left  the  matter  of  reading 
the  Bible  in  the  public  schools  to  the  arbitrament  of  the  people,  and  has 
conferred  upon  the  State  Superintendent  only  the  right  of  an  appellate 
jurisdiction.  The  inhabitants  of  the  various  districts,  according  to  the 
conception  of  the  law,  were  to  be  the  governors  of  the  common  schools, 
and  up  to  1844,  when  the  provision  relative  to  the  Bible  was  passed, 
there  seems  to  have  been  no  other  thought  than  that  the  majority  should 
rule  (see  Randall,  p.  205).  It  remains  now  to  follow  in  some  measure 
the  development  of  public  opinion  and  to  set  forth  the  bearings  upon  the 
subject  in  question  of  the  appellate  jurisdiction  of  the  State  Superin- 
tendent of  Public  Instruction. 

As  a  matter  of  fact  opinion  on  the  subject  of  reading  the  Bible  in 
the  schools  has  been  divided  since  the  beginning  of  the  controversy  in 
1842.  The  best  we  can  do  therefore  is  to  represent  both  sides  of  this 
opinion,  with  some  intimation  as  to  which  side  has  grown  in  popular 
favor.  The  opinion  which  advocates  the  reading  of  the  Bible  in  the 
schools  is  well  represented  by  George  B.  Cheever,  D.D.  His  argument 
was  presented  to  the  public,  in  1854,  in  a  book  of  three  hundred  pages 


READING  OF   THE  BIBLE  IN  THE  PUBLIC   SCHOOLS  87 

(Right  of  the  Bible  in  Our  Public  Schools] .  Cheever  was  born  in  Hallowell, 
Maine,  1807.  He  was  graduated  from  Bowdoin  College  in  1825,  and 
from  Andover  Seminary,  1830.  In  1839  he  became  pastor  in  New  York 
City,  where  he  remained  a  resident  until  his  retirement  in  1870.  He  was 
distinguished  for  his  vigorous  application  of  orthodox  principles  to  ques- 
tions of  practical  interest  (Apple ton's  Cyclopaedia  of  American  Biogra- 
phy}. The  opinion  of  Mr.  Cheever  is  of  peculiar  significance  here, 
because  of  his  residence  in  New  York  City  during  the  very  years  the 
controversy  was  so  hot.  He  maintains  that  the  Bible  is  being  banished 
from  the  schools  out  of  deference  to  the  Roman  Catholic  conscience,  and 
that  this  procedure  means  legislation  against  all  other  sects  who  reverence 
the  word  of  God  and  desire  its  use  in  the  system  of  common-school 
education.  Such  a  prospect  he  considers  altogether  displeasing,  and 
takes  up  his  pen  in  opposition  to  the  movement.  His  argument,  as 
relates  to  the  Bible,  is  condensed  in  a  brief  paragraph  of  the  Introduction, 
which  reads  as  follows: 

"We  propose  to  show  that  such  a  course  [exclusion  of  the  Bible  from 
the  schools]  would  be  contrary  to  Divine  law,  and  to  all  just  and  equal 
human  law;  contrary  to  the  obligations  of  benevolence;  contrary  to  the 
rights,  and  injurious  to  the  welfare  of  the  whole  country;  contrary  to  the 
principles  of  civil  and  religious  freedom;  contrary  to  long  settled  Chris- 
tian precedent  and  custom,  and  to  the  expressed  will,  wishes,  and 
judgment  of  the  Christian  community;  contrary  to  our  best  local 
statutes;  contrary  to  the  decisions  of  the  wisest  statesmen,  the  most 
illustrious  patriots,  and  the  most  learned  jurists  of  our  land;  and  contrary 
to  the  history  and  fundamental  principles  and  provisions  of  our  free 
school  system,  as  established  by  the  State  and  supported  by  the  people" 

(p.x). 

The  contrary  opinion  is  well  represented  in  A  Secular  View  of  Religion 
in  the  State,  by  E.  P.  Hurlbut  (Albany,  N.Y.:  Joel  Munsell,  53  pp., 
1870),  and  Religion  and  the  State,  by  S.  T.  Spear,  D.D.  (New  York: 
Dodd,  Mead  &  Co.,  393  pp.,  1876).  The  former  writer  was  an  ex-judge 
of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  State  of  New  York.  His  opinion  therefore 
is  worthy  of  that  respect  which  is  due  to  the  voice  of  authority.  Not 
that  Mr.  Hurlbut's  opinion  is  necessarily  free  from  all  objection,  but 
simply  that  he  speaks  on  the  subject  with  the  knowledge  of  a  legal  expert. 
He  lays  the  foundation  of  his  argument  in  the  conception  of  the  state. 
His  view  will  be  found  in  the  following  paragraphs: 

"There  exist  but  two  pure,  original  sources  of  governmental  author- 
ity: one  professedly  derived  from  the  Supreme  Divine  Power,  and 


88  RELIGIOUS   EDUCATION  IN  NEW  YORK  PUBLIC   SCHOOLS 

exercised  by  divine  right,  which  is  theocracy;  while  the  other  is  earthly 
and  human,  deriving  all  authority  from  the  people,  and  is  based  on  their 
consent;  which  is  democracy.  In  the  former  the  ruler  is  vicegerent  of 
Heaven;  while  in  the  latter  he  is  the  mere  servant  of  the  people.  The 
one  is  a  minister  of  the  Divine  Will;  while  the  other  only  executes  the 
will  of  the  people.  The  right  divine  is,  of  course,  a  mere  assumption; 
but  this  assumption,  believed  and  acquiesced  in  by  a  nation,  becomes  a 

reality,  and,  in  general,  a  dreadful  one In  a  theocracy,  the  state 

is  little  or  nothing — the  church  everything;  or  in  other  words,  the  church 
is  the  state;  while  in  a  democracy  the  state  is  everything,  and  the  church 
is  nothing,  so  far  as  law,  or  legal  recognition  is  concerned.  The  church 
exists  as  the  offspring  of  public  sentiment,  without  giving  law,  or  law 
given  to  it"  (pp.  6,  7). 

Again  Mr.  Hurlbut  says:  "Now  in  matters  of  state  there  cannot 
exist  a  more  perfect  contradiction  than  arises  between  the  theories,  on 
the  one  hand,  that  the  church  is  everything  and  the  state  nothing,  or 
only  its  mere  instrument;  and  on  the  other,  the  state  is  everything  and 
the  church  nothing,  except  a  mere  volunteer,  to  aid  lawful  authority  by 
its  moral  and  religious  influence.  A  free  and  spontaneous  religion  may 
help  to  support  the  state,  by  the  moral  strength  which  it  may  confer  on 
the  citizen  who  is  a  pillar  of  the  state;  but  the  least  drop  of  religion 
legally  allied  to  the  state,  like  the  water  in  Father  Tom's  punch,  spoils 
the  state"  (p.  7). 

It  is  pointed  out  in  the  next  place  that  the  American  government  is  a 
constitutional,  democratic  republic,  founded  purely  on  popular  consent, 
and  recognizing  no  source  of  power  but  the  people.  It  acknowledges  no 
spiritual  power  on  earth  and  confines  its  ministrations  to  man's  temporal 
relations.  Its  citizens  as  such  are  obligated  only  to  be  faithful  to  the 
state  and  just  to  one  another.  In  religion  they  are  left  free  to  form  their 
own  opinions — it  is  a  secret  between  them  and  their  God.  "All  religious 
sects  are  equal  and  equally  disregarded  by  the  law.  The  citizen  is  not 
known  as  a  religionist,  but  only  as  a  man"  (p.  8). 

Applying  this  theory  of  the  state  to  the  reading  of  the  Bible  in  the 
public  schools,  Mr.  Hurlbut  contends  that  the  law  of  1844,  had  it  been 
perfectly  consistent,  would  have  excluded  the  Bible  as  a  sectarian  book. 
That  it  is  a  book  calculated  to  arouse  prejudice  and  strife  is  not  a  matter 
of  speculation,  but  a  matter  of  history.  Already  thousands  have  been 
offended  and  the  path  of  progress  strewn  with  the  obstructions  of  fruit- 
less controversy.  Mr.  Hurlbut  sets  forth  his  fundamental  objection  as 
follows :  "  The  philosophical  democrat  objects  to  its  introduction,  because 


READING   OF   THE  BIBLE  IN  THE  PUBLIC   SCHOOLS  89 

he  would  avoid  the  religious  element  in  all  matters  of  state  concern,  never 
forgetting,  whatever  his  religious  creed  may  be,  that  he  is  a  member  of 
a  democratic,  and  not  of  a  theocratic  state.  Whatever  he  may  have 
personally,  his  state  has  no  God,  no  Bible,  no  church,  no  religion.  He 
sees  at  once  the  incongruity  of  the  religious  element  in  a  state  school, 
and  would  utterly  exclude  it.  Certain  men  of  science  object  against  the 
Bible,  that  it  conveys  false  notions  of  astronomy,  and  of  the  earth's 
geological  history;  and  it  is  enough  that  they  honestly  so  object,  to  make 
its  use  in  the  schools  injurious,  how  ingeniously  soever  they  may  be 
answered  by  the  clergy.  Some  men  of  culture  and  of  elevated  taste,  do 
not  perceive  the  great  sublimity  and  beauty  even  in  the  poetry  of  the 
Bible,  that  is  vaunted  by  its  admirers;  and  although  they  might  tolerate 
the  book  of  Job,  would  by  no  means  agree  that  the  master  of  a  school 
should  read  Solomon's  song,  or  the  fourth  chapter  of  Ezekiel,  to  their 
sons  and  daughters.  It  is  enough  to  make  a  quarrel  that  they  so  object, 
and  a  quarrel  kills  the  school"  (p.  37). 

The  paragraph  above  is  supplemented  by  the  statement  that  there 
can  be  no  peace  among  the  sects  with  the  Bible  in  the  schools.  The 
Jewish  parent  objects  to  the  reading  of  the  New  Testament.  The 
Catholic  objects  to  what  he  calls  the  Protestant  version.  And  this  is  to 
say  nothing  of  the  friends  of  the  "positive  philosophy,"  the  advocates  of 
a  progressive  theory  of  creation,  and  the  disciples  of  Darwin  who, 
because  they  have  no  religion,  may  be  considered  to  have  no  rights, 
and  may  thus  be  taxed  to  support  schools  in  which  doctrines  are  taught 
antagonistic  to  their  beliefs  (pp.  38-39). 

We  shall  now  proceed  to  state  the  opinion  of  Rev.  S.  T.  Spear,  D.D. 
(Religion  and  the  State).  His  book  is  a  thorough  and  masterly  treatment 
of  the  subject.  It  conveys  the  impression  that  the  author  has  met  the 
issue  fairly  and  answered  the  main  questions  involved  with  perfect 
candor  and  ample  learning.  There  seem  to  be  no  distortion  of  facts  and 
no  juggling  with  words.  And  the  opinion  of  Dr.  Spear  is  all  the  more 
interesting  and  appropriate  to  our  subject,  inasmuch  as  he  was  a  pastor 
in  Brooklyn,  New  York,  and  lived  in  the  midst  of  the  controversy  which 
he  discusses  in  his  book.  His  view  of  the  functions  of  civil  government, 
as  related  to  religion,  may  be  illustrated  by  the  following:  "Those  who 
drew  the  plan  of  our  National  Government  built  the  system  upon  the 
principle  that  religion  and  civil  government  were  to  be  kept  entirely 
distinct;  and,  for  the  most  part,  all  the  State  governments  are  con- 
structed upon  the  same  theory.  The  general  character  of  both  is  that 
they  neither  affirm  nor  deny  any  doctrine  in  respect  to  God  and  that  they 


QO  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION  IN  NEW  YORK  PUBLIC   SCHOOLS 

command  no  duty  as  a  religious  duty.  They  deal  with  the  temporal 
rights  and  obligations  of  citizenship,  without  any  reference  to  the  ques- 
tion whether  the  citizen  is  a  religionist  or  not.  His  religious  faith  is  no 
part  of  his  citizenship  and  no  criterion  of  his  rights.  It  confers  upon 
him  no  immunities  and  imposes  no  disabilities He  is  not  for- 
bidden to  be  an  atheist  and  not  commanded  to  be  a  Christian.  He 
forfeits  no  rights  by  being  the  one  and  gains  none  by  being  the  other; 
and  as  between  these  two  extremes  of  opinion,  the  State  does  not  under- 
take to  decide  which  is  the  true  and  which  is  the  false  opinion.  Such  is 
the  great  American  principle  in  respect  to  the  sphere  of  civil  govern- 
ment. This  principle,  being  the  exact  antipodes  of  State  theology 
admits  of  no  reconciliation  with  it"  (p.  117). 

How  the  introduction  of  the  Bible  into  the  schools  violates  the 
"great  American  principle"  is  suggested  in  the  following  summary: 
"The  result  then  that  we  reach  from  this  analysis  of  the  question  is 
simply  this: — that,  by  using  the  Bible  in  the  public  schools,  unless  the 
use  be  merely  that  of  a  reading-book,  an  American  State,  founded  on 
the  principle  of  the  strictest  impartiality  towards  all  religious  sects  and 
of  making  no  discrimination  between  them,  undertakes  to  create  and 
does  create  a  religious  establishment  in  these  schools  at  the  public 
expense,  and  after  the  Christian  model,  either  Protestant  or  Catholic 
in  its  specific  type,  and  to  this  end  affirmatively  determines  all  the 
questions  and  institutes  all  the  agencies  necessary  to  make  it  a  fact. 
This,  in  plain  English,  is  just  what  the  proposition  means,  and  what 
those  demand  who  advocate  it.  The  public  school  is  what  it  is 
by  State  authority;  and  so  far  as  religion  is  there,  whether  as  a 
matter  of  instruction,  or  worship,  or  both,  it  is  there  by  this  authority, 
and  there  established  by  being  included  in  a  State  school  system" 
(p.  86). 

Space  will  be  taken  for  one  more  extract,  with  which  we  shall  con- 
clude the  opinion  of  Dr.  Spear:  "The  public  school,"  he  says,  "is  not  a 
Church,  or  a  synagogue,  or  a  theological  seminary;  but  a  piece  of  State 
machinery,  organized  and  supported  for  purely  temporal  ends — as  really 
as  a  court  of  justice,  a  constitutional  convention,  or  a  legislative  body. 
Its  function  is  not  to  make  or  unmake  Christians,  or  predispose  children 
to  this  or  that  form  of  religious  faith.  It  does  not  propose  a  complete 
education;  and  does  not  propose  a  religious  education  at  all,  either 
partial  or  complete.  It  proposes  to  do  a  certain  thing,  on  the  ground  of 
its  necessity  and  utility  to  the  State,  and  to  stop  there,  by  not  entering 
that  field  which  lies  beyond  the  purview  of  civil  government.  In  short, 


READING   OF   THE  BIBLE  IN  THE  PUBLIC   SCHOOLS  91 

it  proposes  a  secular  education,  and  that  only — an  education  that  would 
be  needful  and  useful  in  this  life,  if  there  were  no  God  and  no  future  for 
the  human  soul"  (p.  52). 

The  extracts  given  above  from  Hurlbut  and  Spear  are  in  full  accord. 
In  their  opinion  the  state  is  wholly  secular,  created  only  for  the  temporal 
interests  of  man,  and  should  in  no  sense  undertake  the  task  of  religious 
instruction.  Complete  separation  of  church  and  state  leaves  no  place 
for  the  religious  use  of  the  Bible  in  the  public  schools. 

It  remains  now  to  note  what  contribution  the  decisions  of  state 
superintendents  have  made  to  the  legal  status  of  the  Bible  in  the  schools. 
In  1871  (Laws  of  New  York,  1871,  chap.  461)  by  act  of  legislature,  there 
was  created  a  Board  of  Education  for  Long  Island  City,  to  have  the 
general  control  and  local  supervision  of  the  public  schools  of  that  munici- 
pality. That  body  proceeded  to  pass  the  following  provision:  "The 
daily  opening  exercises  shall  consist  of  the  reading  of  a  portion  of  the 
Holy  Scriptures,  without  note  or  comment."  Whereupon  a  threefold 
appeal  was  addressed  to  the  State  Superintendent  of  Public  Instruction, 
Abram  B.  Weaver.  The  appellants  were  the  Board  of  Trustees  of  the 
First  Ward  of  Long  Island  City,  and  two  private  citizens  of  that  city. 
The  ground  of  appeal  on  the  part  of  the  board  of  trustees  was  that  the 
enforcement  of  the  provision  in  question  compelled  the  pupils  to  be 
present  at  the  reading  of  the  Bible  in  the  school,  under  penalty  of  expul- 
sion in  case  of  non-attendance  at  such  reading,  and  that  the  regulation 
had  been  directed  to  be  enforced  against  the  protest  of  the  trustees, 
many  of  the  pupils,  and  their  parents  and  guardians.  In  the  case  of  the 
two  private  individuals,  the  appeal  was  grounded  on  the  fact  that  their 
children  had  been  expelled  from  school  for  refusing,  in  obedience  to  their 
parents,  to  attend  when  the  Bible  was  being  read. 

In  handing  down  his  opinion,  Superintendent  Weaver  takes  occasion 
to  say  that  the  question  involved  in  the  appeals  before  him  is  not  new  in 
the  school  history  of  the  state.  Trustees  had  often  claimed  the  right  to 
enforce  the  attendance  of  pupils  upon  religious  exercises  in  the  schools 
over  which  they  had  charge,  but  that  his  predecessors  in  office,  as  well  as 
himself,  had  uniformly  held  that  no  such  right  legally  existed.  Here  he 
cites  the  decision  of  Superintendent  Spencer  in  1839,  and  of  Superin- 
tendent Rice  in  1866,  and  then  proceeds  to  pass  judgment  on  the  case 
before  him,  as  follows: 

"The  action  of  the  Board  of  Education  of  Long  Island  City,  in 
directing  the  reading  of  a  portion  of  the  Bible  as  an  opening  exercise  in 
the  schools  under  their  charge,  during  school  hours,  and  in  excluding 


92  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION  IN  NEW  YORK  PUBLIC   SCHOOLS 

pupils  from  those  schools,  or  any  of  them,  on  the  ground  of  declining  to 
be  present  at  the  reading,  has  been  without  warrant  of  law. 

"  All  persons,  otherwise  entitled  to  attend  any  of  the  schools  of  Long 
Island  City,  and  who  have  been  and  are  excluded  therefrom  for  refusal 
to  be  present  at  the  reading  of  the  Bible  therein,  have  had  the  right  to 
be  admitted  to  such  schools  upon  the  same  footing  as  other  pupils  right- 
fully attending  them;  and  it  is,  therefore,  the  duty  of  the  said  Board  of 
Education  to  see  that  the  right  of  all  such  persons,  in  that  respect,  is 
accorded  to  them"  (circular  on  Bible  Reading  and  Religious  Exercises  in 
the  Public  Schools,  issued  by  Commissioner  of  Education,  A.  S.  Draper, 
February  i,  1906). 

This  decision  was  handed  down,  June  5,  1872.  Twelve  years  later, 
application  was  made  to  State  Superintendent,  W.  B.  Ruggles,  for 
advice  in  regard  to  religious  exercises  in  the  schools  of  Orangetown, 
Rockland  County.  The  application  was  from  the  Board  of  Education 
of  Union  Free  School  District  Number  Four,  and  represents  that  they 
"wish  to  move  unerringly,  but  firmly,  in  the  matter  of  sustaining  the 
reading  of  Scripture  and  prayer  as  a  part  of  the  exercises  in  opening  the 
daily  sessions  of  our  public  school";  that  they  have  "not  required  the 
children  of  non-Protestant  families  to  participate  in  repeating  Scripture 
or  the  Lord's  prayer,  but  have  simply  required  them  to  behave  with 
decorum."  It  is  further  stated  that  a  number  of  Catholic  families  "ask 
that  their  children  be  allowed  to  remain  outside  until  the  devotional 
exercises  are  concluded,"  and  that  "this  interference  causes  much  dis- 
order outside  of  the  room,  and  the  subsequent  entrance  of  these  pupils 
causes  a  loss  of  time  and  disturbance  to  class  work"  (circular  on  Bible 
Reading  and  Religious  Exercises  in  the  Public  Schools). 

In  handing  down  his  decision  Superintendent  Ruggles  refers  to  the 
constitutional  provision  of  the  state,  guaranteeing  to  all  mankind  the 
free  exercises  and  enjoyment  of  religious  profession  and  worship.  He 
then  proceeds  to  call  attention  to  the  heterogeneous  character  of  the 
population  in  reference  to  religious  belief  and  the  manifest  impossibility 
of  arranging  a  course  of  religious  instruction  for  the  schools  acceptable 
to  all  sects.  In  view  of  this  situation,  he  says:  "The  only  alternative, 
therefore,  to  preserve  the  benefits  of  the  constitutional  guarantees,  in 
letter  and  spirit,  and  to  secure  to  all  absolute  equality  of  right  in  matter 
of  religious  predilection,  must  be,  however  reluctantly  the  conclusion  is 
arrived  at,  to  exclude  religious  instruction  and  exercises  from  the  public 
schools  during  school  hours"  (ibid.). 


READING   OF   THE  BIBLE   IN  THE  PUBLIC   SCHOOLS  93 

He  now  refers  to  decisions  of  his  predecessors  in  office.  Hon.  John 
A.  Dix,  1838,  is  quoted  as  follows:  "I  have  heretofore  decided  that  a 
teacher  might  open  his  school  with  prayer,  provided  he  did  not  encroach 
upon  the  hours  allotted  to  instruction;  and  provided  that  the  attendance 
of  the  scholars  was  not  exacted  as  a  matter  of  school  discipline"  (ibid.). 

Superintendent  John  C.  Spencer,  1839,  having  occasion  to  pass  upon 
the  question,  made  the  following  pronouncement:  "Prayers  cannot  form 
any  part  of  the  school  exercises  or  be  regulated  by  the  school  discipline. 
If  had  at  all  they  should  be  had  before  the  hour  of  9  o'clock,  the  usual 
hour  of  commencing  school  in  the  morning,  and  after  5  in  the  afternoon" 
(ibid.). 

Superintendent  Ruggles  now  continues  his  statement:  "The  prin- 
ciples laid  down  in  these  early  decisions  have  been  followed  by  every  one 
of  my  predecessors  in  office,  no  distinction  having  been  made  between 
Scripture  reading  and  prayers,  but  each  having  been  held,  in  separate 
and  distinct  appeals,  to  constitute  no  legitimate  part  of  the  business  of 
the  public  schools.  They  will  be  my  guide  and  govern  my  action  in  all 
cases  of  like  nature  which  may  come  officially  before  me"  (circular  on 
Bible  Reading  and  Religious  Exercises  in  the  Public  Schools). 

This  decision  was  given  on  May  27,  1884.  It  was  indorsed  in  1906, 
as  well  as  all  similar  decisions  prior  to  that  date,  by  Commissioner  of 
Education,  A.  S.  Draper,  and  set  forth  as  the  settled  policy  of  the 
Department  of  Education,  in  all  matters  pertaining  to  reading  the  Bible 
in  the  schools. 

In  regard  to  the  authority  attaching  to  the  decisions  of  the  State 
Superintendent,  and  the  means  of  their  enforcement,  our  information 
comes  from  Mr.  Frank  B.  Gilbert,  Chief  of  Law  Division  of  the  New 
York  State  Education  Department.  In  a  personal  letter,  December  7, 
1910,  Mr.  Gilbert  writes  as  follows:  "The  Commissioner  of  Education 
in  this  state  exercises  jurisdiction  in  respect  to  appeals  brought  to  him  by 
aggrieved  parties  from  the  action  of  the  boards  of  education  or  trustees 
in  the  several  school  districts  of  the  state.  When  a  decision  is  made  by 
him  upon  such  an  appeal  it  is  conclusive.  If  in  a  particular  case  he 
decides  that  a  board  is  wrong  in  requiring  the  compulsory  attendance  of 
pupils  upon  religious  exercises  which  are  established  as  a  part  of  the 
school  curriculum,  his  order  is  binding  and  may  be  enforced  against  such 
board  by  removal  for  failure  to  comply  therewith  or  by  withholding  the 
public  money  from  the  district." 

There  have  been  no  court  decisions  in  the  State  of  New  York  for  the 
reason,  it  seems,  that  all  appeals  have  been  addressed  to  the  State 


94  RELIGIOUS   EDUCATION  IN  NEW  YORK  PUBLIC   SCHOOLS 

Superintendent  of  Public  Instruction.  The  decision  of  this  department 
then  must  represent  the  legal  status  of  Bible  reading  in  the  public 
schools,  and  they  have  been,  as  we  have  seen,  uniformly  against  the  use 
of  the  Bible,  in  these  institutions,  during  school  hours.  The  reading  of 
the  Scriptures,  we  are  told,  can  "constitute  no  legitimate  part  of  the 
business  of  the  public  schools."  We  conclude  then  that  from  the  point 
of  view  of  the  principle  of  religious  liberty,  so  ably  represented  by 
Hurlbut  and  Spear,  and  from  the  point  of  view  of  the  decisions  of  the 
state  superintendents,  the  Bible  as  a  religious  book  is  an  outlaw  in  the 
public  schools  of  the  State  and  City  of  New  York. 


CHAPTER  X 
THE  PHILOSOPHIC  ASPECTS  OF  THE  QUESTION 

Recalling  the  argument  thus  far,  it  will  be  remembered  that  for 
about  two  hundred  years  after  the  settlement  of  New  York  what  may  be 
called  common-school  education  was  very  largely  religious,  both  in  its 
ideals  and  in  the  materials  employed.  It  was  a  conception  brought  to 
this  country  by  the  Dutch  and  the  English,  and  is  probably  to  be  traced 
back  to  the  fundamental  principle  of  the  Protestant  Reformation.  The 
priesthood  of  all  believers  called  for  the  education  of  the  masses.  The 
individual  must  learn  to  read  that  he  might  be  able  to  enter  the  temple 
of  truth  which  was  represented  by  the  Scriptures,  and  there,  without 
temporal  or  earthly  mediary,  worship  at  the  altar  of  his  God.  This 
religious  conception  of  education  flourished  in  New  York  for  about  fifty 
years  after  the  Declaration  of  Independence.  About  this  time,  as  we 
have  seen,  the  movement  of  exclusion  began.  In  the  controversy  con- 
nected with  the  Bethel  Baptist  Church,  which  was  terminated  in  1825, 
the  principle  of  religious  liberty,  as  related  to  public  education,  was  first 
clearly  enunciated.  There  were  those  now  among  the  people  who 
apprehended  that  the  school  fund  was  purely  of  a  civil  character,  and 
that  to  divert  any  portion  of  it  for  purposes  of  religious  instruction  was 
contrary  to  the  spirit  of  our  republican  institutions.  In  1842  this 
principle  was  embodied  into  law.  Henceforth  in  the  City  of  New  York 
no  school  could  participate  in  the  public  fund,  in  which  religious  sec- 
tarianism should  be  inculcated  or  practiced.  In  the  country  districts, 
as  our  study  has  shown,  the  matter  still  remained  in  the  hands  of  the  local 
school  authorities,  but  it  is  hard  to  doubt  that  the  situation  in  the 
metropolis  must  have  exerted  a  potent  influence  throughout  the  state 
at  large. 

From  1842  down  to  the  present  time,  the  subject  of  religious  educa- 
tion in  the  public  schools  has  centered  around  the  reading  of  the  Bible. 
Opinion  on  the  question  has  been  divided,  but  it  is  believed  that  the 
principle  of  religious  liberty  has  won  an  increasing  number  of  adherents 
and  advocates,  and  that  in  consequence  of  this  and  other  considerations 
the  number  of  those  who  oppose  the  religious  use  of  the  Bible  in  the 
public  schools  has  been  constantly  growing.  The  only  law  on  the  matter 
applies  to  the  City  of  New  York,  and  is  purely  negative  in  its  character. 

95 


96  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION  IN  NEW  YORK  PUBLIC   SCHOOLS 

It  merely  denies  to  the  Board  of  Education  the  right  to  exclude  the 
Bible  from  the  schools.  The  real  law  on  the  subject  is  found  in  the 
decisions  of  the  state  superintendents.  These,  as  we  have  seen,  have 
uniformly  declared  that  the  Bible,  as  a  religious  book,  has  no  place  in 
the  schoolroom.  To  say  that  the  Bible  may  be  read  in  the  schoolhouse 
before  or  after  school  hours,  as  some  superintendents  have  done,  is 
wholly  aside  from  the  question  at  issue.  The  school  authorities  have  no 
jurisdiction  over  those  hours,  and  the  fact  that  the  reading  of  the  Bible 
occurs  in  the  school  building,  rather  than  in  some  place  outside,  is  purely 
incidental.  But  the  uniform  decision  of  the  state  superintendents  has 
been  that  the  religious  use  of  the  Bible  constitutes  no  part  of  a  common- 
school  education,  and  that  such  a  use  is  therefore  illegal. 

In  the  meantime  we  have  seen  the  character  of  common-school 
education  undergoing  a  process  of  change.  The  religious  conception  has 
been  abandoned,  and  in  its  place  has  come  the  notion  of  a  purely  secular 
education.  This,  however,  does  not  mean  an  irreligious  or  godless  educa- 
tion, but  simply  one  that  is  free  from  direct  religious  instruction,  and 
especially  from  sectarianism.  In  the  broad  sense  it  may  be  even  more 
religious  than  it  was  in  the  days  of  the  Primer  and  the  Catechism. 

Aside  therefore  from  the  law  of  1842  precluding  the  inculcation  and 
practice  of  sectarian  tenets,  and  the  subsequent  amendment  of  1844 
denying  to  the  Board  of  Education  the  right  to  exclude  the  Bible  from 
the  schools  of  the  metropolis,  we  arrive  at  the  following  conclusion: 
religious  instruction  and  the  reading  of  the  Bible  have  been  officially 
excluded  from  the  public  schools  of  the  State  and  City  of  New  York. 
If  they  still  remain  in  some  schools,  as  they  do,  it  is  a  survival  of  the  old 
theory  that  this  question  is  to  be  settled  by  the  inhabitants  and  officers 
of  the  various  school  districts.  But  whenever  objection  is  raised  to  this 
procedure,  religious  instruction,  or  Bible  reading,  comes  under  the 
prohibition  of  the  state  Department  of  Education,  and  is  henceforth 
illegal.  This  exclusion  of  the  Bible  and  religious  instruction  from  the 
public  schools  has  come  as  a  result  of  an  ever  stricter  application  of  the 
principle  of  religious  liberty.  The  public  school  as  an  institution  of  civil 
government  can  take  no  part  in  religious  instruction,  but  must  forever 
be  dedicated  to  the  cause  of  common  secular  education.  This  has  been 
the  verdict  of  history  in  the  State  of  New  York. 

We  shall  now  proceed  to  inquire,  in  a  brief  way,  whether  this  verdict 
is  justifiable  in  the  light  of  the  prevalent  conception  of  the  American 
state  and  the  ideals  of  religious  education. 

Writers  on  political  science  make  a  very  proper  distinction  between 


PHILOSOPHIC   ASPECTS   OF   THE   QUESTION  97 

the  modern,  and  the  ancient  and  mediaeval  states.  The  ancient  state 
was  comprehensive.  It  embraced  the  entire  life  of  man  in  religion,  law, 
morals,  art,  culture,  and  science.  There  was  no  recognition  of  the 
spiritual  freedom  of  the  individual  and  ministers  of  religion  were  public 
officers.  The  Middle  Ages  recognized  a  dualism  of  church  and  state 
and  symbolized  the  functions  of  each  respectively  in  the  spiritual  and 
temporal  swords.  The  mediaeval  state  was  regulated  by  theological 
principles,  and  its  ruler  was  the  vicegerent  of  God.  The  church,  which 
was  symbolized  by  the  spiritual  sword,  was  considered  to  be  higher  than 
the  state,  as  the  spirit  is  higher  than  the  body.  It  took  charge  of  the 
education  of  the  young,  exercised  authority  over  science,  dominated 
kings  and  princes,  and  exalted  the  clergy  high  above  the  laity. 

The  modern  state  has  become  conscious  of  limitations  to  its  rights 
and  powers.  It  no  longer  claims  control  of  religion,  art,  or  science. 
Religion  is  left  to  voluntary  initiative,  and  the  priesthood  is  wholly  an 
ecclesiastical  office.  Instead  of  being  founded  on  theocratic  conceptions, 
it  is  founded  by  human  means  on  human  nature.  Instead  of  being 
regulated  by  theology,  its  principles  are  determined  by  the  human 
sciences  of  philosophy  and  history.  It  feels  itself  independent  of  the 
church  and  makes  no  distinction  between  clergy  and  laity.  It  allows 
and  protects  freedom  of  belief  and  abstains  from  all  persecution  of  dis- 
senters. It  delivers  science  from  ecclesiastical  authority,  and  regards 
the  school  as  a  civil  institution,  and  leaves  only  religious  education  to 
the  care  of  the  church.  (This  comparison  is  based  on  Bluntschli,  Theory 
of  the  State,  Book  I,  chap,  vi.) 

The  relation  of  religion  to  the  state  is,  in  a  general  way,  denned  by 
Bluntschli,  as  follows:  "The  modern  idea  of  the  State  is  not  religious, 
but  not  therefore  irreligious,  i.e.,  it  does  not  make  the  State  depend  upon 
religious  belief,  but  it  does  not  deny  that  God  has  made  human  nature, 
and  that  His  providence  has  a  part  in  the  government  of  the  world. 
Modern  political  science  does  not  profess  to  comprehend  the  ways  of 
God,  but  endeavors  to  understand  the  State  as  a  human  institution.  All 
theocracy  is  repellent  to  the  political  consciousness  of  modern  nations. 
The  modern  State  is  a  human  constitutional  arrangement.  The  author- 
ity of  the  State  is  conditioned  by  public  law,  and  its  politics  aim  at  the 
welfare  of  the  nation  (the  commonweal),  understood  by  human  reason, 
and  carried  out  by  human  means"  (op.  cit.,  p.  61). 

It  seems  therefore,  according  to  Bluntschli,  that  there  is  to  be  no 
union  between  religion  and  the  modern  state.  And  whatever  may  be 
true  of  European  countries,  this  view  finds  ample  illustration  in  American 


98  RELIGIOUS   EDUCATION  IN   NEW   YORK  PUBLIC   SCHOOLS 

politics.  Here  in  theory  and  almost  wholly  in  practice  church  and  state 
are  in  separation.  This  of  course  has  not  always  been  the  case.  Colonial 
legislation  exhibited  many  features  of  discrimination  against  various 
religious  beliefs  and  professions.  It  was  the  multiplication  of  sects,  the 
devotion  to  a  common  cause,  on  the  part  of  all  the  people,  during  the 
perilous  years  of  the  Revolutionary  War,  and  the  general  liberal  thought 
of  the  tunes  that  brought  forth  on  this  American  continent  the  principle 
of  religious  liberty  in  such  perfection  that  we  have  not  only  religious 
toleration  but  religious  equality.  A  writer  of  great  ability  thus  speaks 
of  the  development  of  the  secular  state:  "It  has  come  out  of  the  slowly 
accumulating  experiences  of  mankind,  as  the  political  spirit  has  care- 
fully and  laboriously  gone  forward  in  its  earnest  quest  for  a  government 
that  at  the  same  time  shall  be  best  for  the  individual  and  for  society, 
that  shall  give  the  Church  the  largest  possibilities  and  the  State  the 
greatest  political  efficiency.  The  Secular  State  is,  too,  the  creation  of 
religious  men,  who  have  persevered  in  their  course  with  noble  heroism  in 
the  face  of  persecutions,  and  who  have  worked  with  large  views  of 
humanity  and  in  obedience  to  the  manifest  teachings  of  history  to  fash- 
ion a  government  where  politics  shall  be  free  from  religious  hatreds,  and 
where  the  Church  shall  be  free  from  the  despotisms  and  corruptions  of 
politics.  We  may  lament,  we  may  denounce;  but  the  Secular  State  is 
the  expression  and  the  outcome  of  a  resistless  tendency  which  will  crush 
any  man  or  institution  that  stands  in  its  way  and  attempts  to  impede 
its  progress"  (Crooker,  Problems  in  American  Society,  p.  211). 

The  constitution  of  this  country,  which,  according  to  its  own  words, 
emanates  from  "the  people  of  the  United  States,"  declares  itself  to  be 
"the  supreme  law  of  the  land."  All  the  powers  conferred  and  all  the 
limitations  imposed  by  this  document  rest  upon  the  sovereign  authority 
of  the  people.  Its  purpose,  as  stated  in  the  preamble,  was  "to  form  a 
more  perfect  union,  establish  justice,  insure  domestic  tranquillity,  pro- 
vide for  the  common  defense,  promote  the  general  welfare,  and  secure 
the  blessings  of  liberty  to  ourselves  and  our  posterity."  It  is  therefore 
a  human  constitution,  devoid  of  theocratic  taint  and  having  in  view  only 
the  temporal  welfare  of  the  people.  Religion  is  wholly  excluded  from 
its  scope.  On  this  point  there  can  be  no  question.  The  words  of  the 
constitution  are  decisive:  "But  no  religious  test  shall  ever  be  required 
as  a  qualification  to  any  office  or  public  trust  under  the  United  States" 
(Art.  VI,  sec.  3).  And  this  declaration  is  supplemented  by  the  first 
amendment:  "Congress  shall  make  no  law  respecting  an  establishment 
of  religion,  or  prohibiting  the  free  exercise  thereof."  What  Spear  says  is 


PHILOSOPHIC  ASPECTS   OF   THE   QUESTION  99 

therefore  true:  "The  whole  subject  of  religion  is  totally  withdrawn  from 
the  jurisdiction  of  the  General  Government,  not  only  by  not  being 
included  in  its  powers,  but  by  being  expressly  excluded  therefrom" 
(Religion  and  the  State,  p.  210). 

Turning  now  to  the  constitutions  of  the  various  states  of  the  Union, 
instead  of  discussing  them  separately  in  their  different  provisions  relating 
to  the  profession  and  practice  of  religion,  we  shall  quote  at  length  from 
a  learned  jurist  of  our  country.  Thomas  M.  Cooley,  formerly  judge  of 
the  Supreme  Court  of  Michigan,  gives  the  following  summary:  "He 
who  shall  examine  with  care  the  American  constitutions  will  find  nothing 
more  fully  stated  or  more  plainly  expressed  than  the  desire  of  their 
authors  to  preserve  and  perpetuate  religious  liberty,  and  to  guard  against 
the  slightest  approach  towards  the  establishment  of  inequality  in  the 
civil  or  political  rights  of  citizens,  based  upon  differences  of  religious 
belief.  The  American  people  came  to  the  work  of  framing  their  funda- 
mental laws  after  centuries  of  religious  oppression  and  persecution, 
sometimes  by  one  party  or  sect  and  sometimes  by  another,  had  taught 
them  the  utter  futility  of  all  attempts  to  propagate  religious  opinions  by 
rewards,  penalties,  or  terrors  of  human  laws.  They  could  not  fail  to 
perceive,  also,  that  a  union  of  Church  and  State,  like  that  which  existed 
in  England,  if  not  wholly  impracticable  in  America,  was  certainly  opposed 
to  the  spirit  of  our  institutions,  and  that  any  domineering  of  one  sect 
over  another  was  repressing  to  the  energies  of  the  people,  and  must 
necessarily  tend  to  discontent  and  disorder.  Whatever,  therefore,  may 
have  been  their  individual  sentiments  upon  religious  questions,  or  upon 
the  propriety  of  the  State  assuming  supervision  and  control  of  religious 
affairs  under  other  circumstances,  the  general  voice  has  been,  that  per- 
sons of  every  religious  persuasion  should  be  made  equal  before  the  law, 
and  that  questions  of  religious  belief  and  religious  worship  should  be 
questions  between  each  individual  man  and  his  Maker,  of  which  human 
tribunals  are  not  to  take  cognizance,  so  long  as  the  public  order  is  not 
disturbed,  except  as  the  individual,  by  his  voluntary  action  in  associating 
himself  with  a  religious  organization,  may  have  conferred  upon  such 
organization  a  jurisdiction  over  him  in  ecclesiastical  matters"  (Con- 
stitutional Limitations,  2d  ed.,  p.  512). 

Nothing  therefore  is  more  evident  than  that  in  America  the  principle 
of  religious  liberty  is  fully  established.  It  is  recognized  in  the  state  and 
national  constitutions,  and  is  therefore  part  of  the  fundamental  law  of 
the  land.  It  is  then  not  to  be  doubted  that  in  this  country  church  and 
state  are  separate  and  distinct.  But  religious  instruction  and  Bible 


IOO  RELIGIOUS   EDUCATION  IN   NEW  YORK  PUBLIC   SCHOOLS 

reading  in  the  public  schools  is  a  palpable  violation  of  this  principle. 
The  rights  of  conscience  in  respect  to  religion  are  constitutionally  guar- 
anteed to  American  citizens.  And  for  the  state  to  undertake  to  do  in 
the  schoolroom  what  it  repudiates  in  the  church  is  to  be  guilty  of  a  gross 
inconsistency.  The  exclusion  of  religious  instruction  from  the  public 
schools  is  the  inevitable  logic  of  that  full  religious  liberty  which  the 
American  state  guarantees  to  its  citizens. 

Of  course  it  may  be  a  question  whether  the  principle  of  religious 
liberty  is  a  final  solution  of  the  relation  of  church  and  state.  It  were 
mere  presumption  to  say  that  it  is.  What  new  light  may  come  with  the 
unfolding  years,  and  what  new  and  unforeseen  situations  may  demand 
are  all  beyond  the  ken  of  human  vision.  We  only  know  there  is  nothing 
in  present  conditions  to  justify  the  prophet  of  the  future  to  speak  of  a 
certain  day  to  come  when  religious  liberty  will  be  no  more. 

It  is  also  a  question  whether  the  religious  education  of  the  children  is 
not  a  matter  of  such  great  importance  as  to  override  the  considerations  of 
religious  liberty.  As  a  mere  abstraction,  of  course,  religious  liberty  is 
not  to  be  contended  for.  But  when  we  consider  the  practical  worth  of 
freedom  of  conscience  in  the  lives  of  the  people,  and  when  we  consider 
also  that  the  religious  education  of  the  children  may  be  accomplished  by 
other  means  than  the  public  schools,  we  shall  not  lightly  set  aside  that 
liberty  of  conscience  which  has  so  slowly  come  to  light  through  the  lapse 
of  the  ages  and  which  has  cost  such  infinite  toil  and  suffering.  Indeed, 
as  Professor  Woolsey  affirms,  no  other  plan  than  the  complete  separation 
of  church  and  state  is  possible  in  the  states  of  America,  "as  long  as  all 
confessions  are  equal  before  the  law,  as  long  as  freedom  to  found  churches 
is  open  to  all,  and  as  long  as  the  conception  exists  that  a  church  is  a 
spiritual  body,  acting  on  the  state  only  by  the  moral  and  religious  forces 
of  individual  persons"  (Political  Science,  II,  467).  Then,  too,  we  have 
to  remember  that  history  is  replete  with  evils  resulting  from  the  union 
of  church  and  state.  How  else  shall  we  explain  the  wars  against  the 
Albigenses  and  the  Hussites,  the  Thirty  Years'  War,  and  the  English 
Rebellion?  This  unholy  union  has  forced  unwilling  compliance  with 
ceremony  and  ritual,  punished  with  death  those  who  opposed  the  state 
church,  refused  Dissenters  a  seat  in  parliament,  and  denied  them  the 
right  to  take  degrees  in  the  universities.  It  has  intensified  religious 
hatred  among  the  people  and  poured  contempt  upon  all  classes  of  Non- 
conformists. It  has  worked  injury  to  the  religious  establishment  itself, 
weakening  the  motives  for  religious  activity,  taking  away  the  inde- 


PHILOSOPHIC  ASPECTS   OF   THE   QUESTION  IOI 

pendence  of  the  clergy,  and  making  religious  livings  the  gift  of  the  state. 
It  has  exiled  loyal  citizens  from  their  native  land,  has  fostered  hypocrisy 
by  inducing  men  to  sign  articles  of  faith  in  which  they  did  not  believe, 
has  given  rise  to  the  inquisition,  and  filled  the  earth  with  persecutions 
and  bloody  murder  (see  Woolsey,  Political  Science,  II,  500).  Surely  men 
have  a  right  to  stand  in  dread  of  a  policy  which  has  wrought  such  vast 
iniquity  in  the  world.  Nor  can  there  be  surprise  at  the  widespread 
feeling  that  it  were  better  to  bear  the  ills  we  have  in  the  exclusion  of 
religious  instruction  from  the  schools,  than  to  fly  to  others  which  have 
been  intolerably  worse  in  the  past  and  which  promise  nothing  better  for 
the  future. 

Alongside  this  view  of  the  state  we  may  very  properly  place  the 
Catholic  conception  of  education.  Here  so  far  as  possible  we  shall  let 
Catholic  writers  speak  in  their  own  words.  Rev.  Thomas  S.  Preston, 
writing  in  the  Forum  of  1886  (I,  161-71)  under  the  title  of  "What  the 
Catholics  Want,"  thus  defines  the  view  of  that  religious  body:  "With  us 
Catholics  the  question  of  education  is  a  part  of  our  religious  duty.  Our 
faith  commands  us  to  instruct  our  children  in  accordance  with  the  prin- 
ciples of  our  creed.  We  are  bound  in  conscience  to  do  so;  and  if  we  are 
restrained  from  doing  so,  we  possess  not  the  freedom  to  practice  our 
religion.  If  there  were  a  law  forbidding  us  to  do  so,  we  could  not  obey 
that  law,  since  our  consciences  would  demand  that  'we  should  obey  God 
rather  than  man.' " 

He  now  proceeds  to  enumerate  the  various  factors  involved  in 
Catholic  education,  and  we  are  told  that: 

i.  Responsibility  of  education  falls  upon  the  parents.  They  may 
use  the  aids  Providence  has  given  them,  and  must  obey  the  spiritual 
pastors  whom  God  has  set  over  them.  The  state  has  no  right  to  inter- 
fere here. 

"2.  We  hold  also  that  religion  cannot  be  divorced  from  education. 
....  In  the  instruction  of  children  we  believe  that  it  is  our  duty  to 
teach  them  the  truths  of  our  faith  while  we  open  their  minds  to  the  light 
of  natural  science.  It  is  our  conscientious  conviction  that  the  elimina- 
tion of  religion  from  a  course  of  education  is  really  to  inculcate  atheism, 
and  to  seek  to  banish  God,  who  is  the  fountain  of  all  light,  from  the  young 
heart  and  mind.  Religion  in  education  cannot  be  simply  let  alone  as 
an  unknown  quantity.  It  must  either  be  ignored,  or  fully  taught,  or 
partially  taught."  In  the  opinion  of  Mr.  Preston,  it  should  be  fully 
taught,  as  one  must  believe  that  his  creed  is  all  true  and  in  no  part 
superfluous. 


102         RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION  IN  NEW  YORK  PUBLIC  SCHOOLS 

3.  They  believe  also  that  morality,  in  the  common  acceptance  of  the 
term,  is  so  bound  up  with  religion  that  no  moral  principles  can  be 
taught  without  it. 

He  now  proceeds  to  ask  for  the  mode  of  accomplishing  this  end,  and 
finds  the  answer  thus:  unite  religious  training  with  the  education  of 
the  young.  But  the  heterogeneous  character  of  religious  belief  in  this 
country  precludes  any  common  basis  of  instruction.  This  requires  the 
exclusion  of  religious  teaching  from  the  schools.  And  there  is,  he 
thinks,  no  way  by  which  this  radical  defect  can  be  made  up.  The  Sunday 
school  is  inadequate.  The  daily  school  is  the  only  place  that  will  satisfy 
the  demands  of  religious  education,  but  this  institution  has  been  secular- 
ized. So  he  continues: 

"There  remains  then  only  one  way  by  which  the  principles  we  hold 
sacred  can  be  subserved,  and  the  freedom  to  practice  our  religion  granted 
to  us.  This  is  the  establishment  of  denominational  schools,  in  which 
from  early  childhood  the  truths  of  revelation  and  of  the  Divine  law  may 
be  impressed  upon  the  growing  powers  of  the  young  mind.  These 
powers  will  grow  for  good  or  for  evil,  for  truth  or  for  error.  In  this  way 
every  religious  denomination  would  be  able  to  provide  for  its  own 
children,  and  to  preserve  what  it  professes  to  hold  dear.  And  we  will 
say  that  every  denomination  must  do  this,  or  be  instrumental  in  its 
own  destruction  by  the  neglect  of  the  most  ordinary  means  of 
self-preservation. 

"The  public  schools  are  godless.  We  say  this  with  no  intention  of 
speaking  ill  of  them,  nor  of  ignoring  their  real  merits.  All  their  merits 
we  appreciate.  But  they  are,  and  must  be  godless,  as  neither  the 
existence  of  God  nor  His  revelation  to  man  can  be  taught  in  them. 
They  have  only  one  end  in  view,  and  can  have  no  other.  This  is  the 
direction  of  the  mind  and  all  the  impulses  of  the  heart  to  the  needs  of 
time  at  the  expense  of  eternity." 

To  be  taxed  for  the  support  of  schools  not  according  to  their  con- 
science is  regarded  as  a  species  of  persecution.  It  is  not  just,  he  thinks, 
for  Catholics  to  be  taxed  for  the  support  of  public  schools  when  they 
cannot  for  conscience'  sake  send  their  children  and  when  they  are 
obliged  to  pay  out  heavy  sums  for  the  maintenance  of  parochial 
schools.  This  of  course  is  nothing  short  of  a  plea  to  be  relieved 
of  the  school  tax. 

The  Catholic  view  of  education  is  further  illustrated  by  two  extracts 
taken  from  journals  of  that  denomination,  published  in  the  city  of 
New  York: 


PHILOSOPHIC  ASPECTS  OF  THE  QUESTION  103 

"We  have  no  wish  to  see  the  common  school  system,  that  is,  a  system 
of  public  schools  for  all  the  children  in  the  land  at  the  public  expense, 
broken  up,  and  are  quite  willing  to  do  our  part  towards  sustaining  it. 
We  see  no  radical  objections  to  its  remaining  with  all  its  present  machin- 
ery, provided  that  the  schools  for  the  children  of  Catholics  be  separated 
from  the  schools  for  Protestants  or  non-Catholics.  Appropriate  to  the 
support  of  Catholic  schools  the  proportion  of  the  public  money  according 
to  the  number  of  children  they  educate,  and  leave  the  selection  of 
teachers,  the  studies,  the  discipline,  the  whole  internal  management,  to 
the  Catholic  educational  authorities,  and  you  may,  in  all  other  respects, 
in  all  prudential  matters,  let  them  remain,  as  now,  under  public  control 
and  management,  and  public  boards,  regents,  commissioners,  and 
trustees,  if  you  will"  (New  York  Tablet,  November  27,  1869). 

But  this  would  be  a  parochial  school  at  the  expense  of  the  state,  and 
only  a  public  school  in  name. 

The  second  organ  referred  to  above  declares  itself  as  follows:  "The 
Catholic  solution  of  this  muddle  about  Bible  or  no  Bible  in  schools,  is 
'Hands  off!'  No  State  taxation  or  donation  for  any  schools.  You  look 
to  your  children,  and  we  will  look  to  ours.  We  don't  want  you  to  be  taxed 
for  Catholic  schools.  We  do  not  want  to  be  taxed  for  Protestant,  or  for 
godless  schools.  Let  the  public-school  system  go  to  where  it  came 
from — the  devil.  We  want  Christian  schools,  and  the  State  cannot  tell 
us  what  Christianity  is"  (Freeman's  Journal,  December  u,  1869). 

The  statements  given  above  may  very  properly  be  supplemented 
from  a  more  recent  writer.  Walsh,  in  the  American  Catholic  Quarterly 
Review,  January,  1904,  in  his  article  on  "Religious  Education  in  the  Public 
Schools  of  Massachusetts,"  takes  occasion  to  set  forth  the  Catholic  con- 
ception of  education  (XXIX,  93  ff.,  116-17  in  particular).  In  assigning 
the  reason  why  Catholics  have  set  up  the  parochial  school,  he  says  it  is 
neither  disloyalty  to  the  state  idea  nor  because  the  secular  education  of 
the  common  schools  is  insufficient.  "  But  because  in  the  common  schools 
the  State  authorities  have  refused  to  give  or  to  allow  the  moral  and 
religious  training  that  the  parents  of  ....  children  rightfully  and 
consistently  demand.  Because  the  education  of  the  common  school  is 
not  a  complete  education,  since  it  ignores  the  most  important  part  of  all 
education,  namely,  of  the  soul.  Because  the  idea  of  education  in  the 
common  schools  does  not  harmonize  with  the  unchanging  and  unchange- 
able Christian  idea  of  education.  What  is  that  idea  ?  The  cultivation  of 
the  child  for  life's  destiny  and  life's  work.  The  child.  Not  some  paper 
doll  or  waxen  plastic  model,  nor  indeed  the  beautifully  imagined  darling 


104  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION  IN  NEW  YORK  PUBLIC   SCHOOLS 

flower  or  ethereal  sort  of  creature  that  we  hear  so  much  about  in  later 
days,  but  the  child  of  flesh  and  blood 

"The  child  cannot  be  divided  and  separated  into  physical,  intel- 
lectual, moral  and  spiritual  parts,  except  by  a  purely  mental  or  meta- 
physical process  that  has  no  corresponding  reality,  but  everything  that 
happens  to  the  child,  from  its  first  breath,  is  cultivating  or  educating  the 
child  in  all  four  aspects.  One  part  cannot  be  given  to  the  parent,  another 
to  the  street,  and  a  third  to  the  school,  a  fourth  to  the  Church,  but  the 
whole  child  is  cultivated  by  each  one  of  these  agencies,  and  the  least  lack 
of  harmony  between  them  in  purpose  or  means  has  its  effect  upon  the 
whole  child." 

The  object  of  education  is  described  as  follows: 

"For  life's  destiny.  Once  admit  the  Divine  creation  and  Divine 
destiny  the  common  non-religious  school  is  bad,  for  as  Ruskin  once  said : 
'  It  does  not  tell  the  child  whence  it  came,  whither  it  is  going  and  how  to 
get  there.'  The  whole  view  of  education,  of  the  value  of  one  or  other 
factor  and  method  in  education  depends  in  a  large  measure  upon  one's 
conception  of  life's  destiny.  For  the  Christian  there  can  be  but  one, 
expressed  in  those  words  of  the  Divine  teacher:  'I  am  the  way,  the 
truth,  the  life.  I  am  the  light  of  the  world.  You  are  the  children  of 
your  Father  who  is  in  heaven,'  hence  sons  of  God.  For  life's  work. 
Yes,  the  school  must  teach  the  child  the  dignity  of  work,  cultivate,  for 
work,  all  the  powers  of  senses,  mind,  will  and  soul." 

Mr.  Walsh  closes  his  statement  with  the  following  summary: 

"We  plead  for  a  school  in  which  the  atmosphere  will  be  Christian; 
we  plead  for  a  school  in  which  the  teacher  will  be  Christian  and  not 
neutralize,  much  less  destroy,  the  influence  of  home  and  Church.  We 
plead  for  a  school  where  the  books  will  be  Christian  in  tone,  spirit  and 
substance;  we  plead  for  a  school  in  which  the  Bible,  as  a  book  of  revealed 
religion  and  the  inspired  word  of  God  to  mankind,  may  be  read  with  note 
and  comment  and  interest  and  instruction  by  one  who  believes  in  it 
as  such." 

Without  commenting  in  detail  on  the  Catholic  conception  of  educa- 
tion just  set  forth,  it  is  sufficient  for  our  purpose  to  note  that  they 
contend  for  a  strictly  religious  education,  and  that  religious  education 
from  their  point  of  view  means  Catholic  education,  instruction  in  the 
tenets  and  practices  of  the  Catholic  church.  If  such  were  the  character 
of  the  public  schools,  Catholics  would  be  the  last  to  raise  objection. 
But  this  cannot  be,  hence  Catholics  have  asked  to  be  relieved  from  the 
school  tax,  or  to  be  allowed  a  proportionate  share  of  the  school  fund. 


PHILOSOPHIC   ASPECTS   OF   THE   QUESTION  IO$ 

And  certainly  it  is  no  transgression  of  the  rules  of  charity  to  say  that  this 
would  be  Catholic  education  at  the  expense  of  the  public.  But  the 
chief  point  in  the  Catholic  contention  is  this:  their  war  against  the 
public  schools  is  in  the  last  analysis  a  war  against  the  character  of  the 
American  state.  It  is  war  against  that  theory  of  the  state,  which  looks 
upon  its  function  as  comprising  only  the  temporal  interests  of  man  and 
which  leaves  all  matters  of  religious  profession  and  worship  to  the 
voluntary  initiative  of  the  people.  A  secular  state,  if  true  to  its  principle, 
can  have  only  a  secular  school. 

It  remains  now  to  consider  the  question  of  religious  instruction  in 
the  schools  from  the  point  of  view  of  the  ideals  of  religious  education. 
Religious  education  is  concerned  primarily  with  the  end  to  be  accom- 
plished, the  means  and  agencies  are  altogether  of  secondary  considera- 
tion. It  therefore  does  not  unduly  exalt  either  Bible  reading  or  religious 
instruction,  but  places  the  emphasis  on  the  development  of  character. 
In  a  general  way,  therefore,  its  ideals  are  comprised  in  the  comprehensive 
aim  of  making  Christian  manhood  and  Christian  womanhood.  In  the 
actual  work  of  religious  education  it  is  necessary  to  distribute  this  aim 
over  the  various  periods  of  growth  and  to  state  specifically  what  is 
wished  to  be  done  at  each  stage  of  development,  but  in  every  case  the 
ultimate  object  to  be  obtained  looks  forward  to  the  maturity  and  fixity 
of  Christian  character.  It  is  now  this  broad  aim  of  religious  education 
in  the  light  of  which  we  propose  to  sit  in  judgment  on  the  purpose  and 
program  of  the  public  school. 

At  the  very  outset  we  are  confronted  by  the  charge  that  the  public 
school  is  irreligious  and  godless.  From  the  point  of  view  of  religious 
education  this  is  a  groundless  accusation,  even  though  there  may  be  no 
formal  religious  instruction  and  no  reading  of  the  Bible  in  these  public 
institutions.  When  we  consider  the  large  number  of  school  teachers 
who  are  active  Christians,  when  we  consider  the  high  moral  and  religious 
motives  by  which  they  are  actuated  and  the  invigorating  school  atmos- 
phere created  by  their  earnestness,  it  is  impossible  to  believe  that  this 
charge  which  comes  from  Catholic  sources  is  anything  but  a  "windy 
suspiration  of  forced  breath."  The  absence  of  formal  religious  instruc- 
tion and  the  reading  of  the  Bible  no  more  makes  the  school  godless  than 
the  absence  of  these  exercises  from  the  bank,  the  factory,  and  the  store 
makes  these  institutions  godless.  An  able  writer  hits  off  the  situation 
in  the  following  graphic  way:  "A  shoemaker  is  not ' godless'  because  he 
refrains  from  pronouncing  the  benediction  when  he  delivers  a  pair  of 
shoes  to  his  customer.  Enough  that  his  leather  is  good,  his  thread  strong, 


106  RELIGIOUS  EDUCATION  IN  NEW  YORK  PUBLIC   SCHOOLS 

his  work  thorough,  and  his  promises  are  punctually  kept.  The  same 
principles  apply  to  a  schoolmaster.  As  long  as  he  does  his  proper  work 
of  teaching  aright  the  branches  of  knowledge  committed  to  him,  and  his 
intercourse  with  his  pupils  conforms  to  the  spirit  of  Christian  morals, 
there  is  no  taint  of  profaneness  to  be  attached  to  him  or  to  his  function" 
(Geo.  P.  Fisher,  Forum,  VII,  131). 

It  is  gratifying  to  recall  that,  despite  all  the  criticism  derogatory  of 
the  public  school,  no  one  has  yet  thought  to  object  to  the  presence  of 
religion  in  these  public  institutions.  The  distinction  is  worth  while. 
Religion  is  a  life.  It  expresses  itself  on  the  manward  side  in  the  moral 
virtues.  Now,  however  much  we  may  withold  our  sanction  from  the 
program  of  theological  indoctrination,  there  can  be  no  objection  to  the 
exercise,  in  the  schools,  of  love,  sympathy,  truthfulness,  reverence, 
courage,  and  all  the  higher  virtues  of  life.  If  then  religion  abounds  in 
the  schoolroom,  we  can  afford,  I  think,  to  be  reconciled  to  the  inevitable 
fact  that  the  theological  indoctrination  must  be  given  elsewhere.  If 
from  the  religious  point  of  view  there  is  to  be  any  campaign  for  the 
improvement  of  the  school,  let  the  emphasis  be  here:  more  religion  in 
the  schools  and  not  more  religious  instruction.  In  the  meantime  we  can 
take  satisfaction  in  the  fact  that,  so  long  as  religion  is  found  in  the 
schools,  whoever  charges  them  with  being  godless  is  guilty  of  mis- 
representation. 

In  this  connection  some  word  should  be  said  in  defense  of  the  view 
that  the  Bible  should  not  be  used  in  the  schools  as  a  religious  book. 
There  seems  no  escape  from  the  conviction  that  the  great  majority  of 
those  who  advocate  the  use  of  the  Bible  in  the  schools  have  in  mind  its 
religious  value.  They  are  contending  for  the  Bible  in  the  schools  either 
as  a  symbol  of  religion,  or  as  a  manual  of  religious  instruction,  or  as  a 
book  of  religious  worship.  In  this  way  they  hope  to  create  the  spirit  of 
reverence  and  impart  the  knowledge  of  religion.  All  this  is  supposed  to 
be  accomplished  by  the  reading  of  ten  or  twenty  verses  a  day,  without 
note  or  comment.  The  purpose  indeed  is  praiseworthy,  but  the  method 
is  inadequate.  From  the  point  of  view  of  a  thorough  religious  educa- 
tion, it  is  impossible  to  believe  that  such  a  use  of  the  Bible  can  be  attended 
with  any  great  value.  On  the  other  hand  it  is  easy  to  see  how  it  may  be 
nothing  more  than  a  worthless  form,  leaving  not  a  trace  of  good  upon 
the  minds  and  hearts  of  the  pupils.  Religious  education,  which  has  in 
view  the  end  to  be  accomplished  and  not  the  means,  cannot  possibly 
look  with  favor  on  any  such  procedure.  And  yet  many  of  the  advocates 
of  the  Bible  in  the  schools  seem  to  feel  that  their  whole  work  is  accom- 


PHILOSOPHIC  ASPECTS   OF   THE   QUESTION  107 

plished  when  once  the  sacred  volume  is  introduced  into  these  institutions. 
The  suspicion  is  aroused  that,  perhaps  unconsciously  to  themselves,  they 
are  looking  upon  the  Bible  as  a  kind  of  fetich,  a  book  of  magic  power, 
that  they  expect  its  mere  presence  in  the  school  to  work  the  miracle  of 
transformation.  But  surely  they  are  leaning  upon  a  broken  reed. 
There  is  no  justification  for  what  they  expect.  The  Bible  is  invaluable 
for  religious  education,  but  not  such  a  use  of  it  as  they  recommend. 
Religious  education  raises  the  voice  of  protest.  It  refuses  to  be  satisfied 
with  such  a  makeshift.  It  therefore  has  little  to  regret  in  the  exclusion 
of  the  Bible  from  the  schools.  It  believes  that  the  school  has  suffered 
no  loss  and  the  Bible  no  injury  nor  insult.  So  long  as  religion  abides  in 
the  schoolroom,  it  is  content  to  have  its  symbol  removed.  Regardless 
of  the  means,  it  proposes  to  be  satisfied  with  religious  development,  and 
refuses  to  call  any  institution  godless  which  succeeds  in  making  even  a 
small  contribution  to  such  a  gracious  work. 

We  turn  now  to  consider  the  question  of  what  we  have  a  right  to 
expect  of  the  schools,  from  the  point  of  view  of  religious  education. 
There  must  be  no  scoffing  at  religion,  no  ridicule  of  the  church,  no 
depreciation  of  moral  and  spiritual  values.  In  no  jot  or  tittle  must  they 
undermine  the  best  influences  of  the  home  and  the  church.  But  it  seems 
needless  almost  to  make  this  remark,  since  there  is  not  the  slightest 
ground  for  believing  that  any  such  opposition  exists,  or  is  likely  to  exist. 

We  insist  also  that  the  aim  of  the  public  school  shall  be  bigger  than 
the  intellectual.  In  this  thesis  a  certain  prominence  has  been  given  to 
the  secular  school,  and  properly  so.  But  by  such  an  institution  we  mean 
only  a  school  devoted  to  the  ordinary  branches  of  public  instruction,  and 
in  no  sense  a  school  dominated  by  materialistic  ideals  and  purposes.  A 
division  of  labor  in  the  work  of  education  has  its  justification.  The 
public  school  has  a  right  to  recognize  the  limitations  and  restrictions 
placed  upon  its  program  of  instruction.  We  cannot  rightfully  expect  of 
this  institution  to  give  a  complete  education.  But  we  do  demand  that 
it  be  conscious  of  its  relations  to  the  home  and  the  church.  While  it 
may  of  right  lay  emphasis  on  the  division  of  labor,  it  must  not  narrow  its 
ideal  to  the  limited  sphere  of  its  immediate  operation.  It  should  no 
more  forget  the  agencies  of  religious  education  than  these  latter  should 
forget  the  public  school.  In  a  word,  while  it  may  rightfully  have  in 
mind,  a  definite  intellectual  aim,  it  should  hold  in  view  the  whole  of  life, 
and  should  therefore  allow  itself  to  be  inspired  by  the  moral  and  religious 
ideal,  and  should  relate  itself  to  all  proper  agencies  for  the  cultivation  of 
the  higher  life. 


108  RELIGIOUS   EDUCATION  IN   NEW  YORK  PUBLIC   SCHOOLS 

There  are  also  some  who  insist  that  the  public  school  should  give 
instruction  in  what  they  call  a  common  basis  of  religion.  This  being 
free  from  sectarianism,  as  they  think,  should  meet  with  the  approval  of 
all.  Aside  from  the  question  whether  religious  instruction  reduced  to  its 
lowest  terms  would  be  sectarian,  it  cannot  be  forgotten  that  such  instruc- 
tion is  still  religious  and  that,  as  such,  it  comes  under  the  ban  of  the 
principle  of  religious  freedom.  And,  besides,  such  schemes  are  usually 
nothing  more  than  feeble  attempts  to  teach  morality.  It  is  true  they 
insist  that  the  existence  of  God  should  be  inculcated,  and  this  would  be 
religious  instruction.  But  what  is  the  use  of  teaching  public-school 
pupils  the  existence  of  God  ?  They  do  not  question  it,  and  all  we  need 
to  ask  of  the  public  school  is  that  it  shall  give  no  occasion  for  denial  of 
this  religious  conviction,  but  rather  take  it  for  granted  in  its  method  of 
instruction.  (For  such  a  scheme  of  religious  education  see  Proceedings 
of  N.E.A.,  1901.)  The  only  value,  in  my  opinion,  of  such  schemes 
of  instruction  is  the  emphasis  they  place  on  moral  education.  We 
have,  I  think,  a  right  to  ask  of  the  public  schools  that  they  seek  first  the 
moral  development  of  their  pupils. 

In  this  connection  also  it  may  be  insisted  that  the  public  school 
consider  the  claims  of  the  Bible  as  a  book  of  history  and  literature. 
This  of  course  is  not  a  religious  question,  and  religious  considerations  can 
have  no  part  in  determining  such  a  use  of  the  Bible.  It  must  be  settled 
very  largely  from  the  point  of  view  of  the  possibilities  of  the  school 
curriculum  in  any  given  case.  Yet  we  must  believe  that  it  is  just  as 
desirable  to  teach  the  history  of  the  ancient  Hebrews,  as  that  of  any  other 
ancient  people,  and  that  such  a  course  of  instruction  would  be  just  as 
truly  educative  as  a  study  of  either  the  Greeks  or  the  Romans. 

And  the  value  of  the  Bible  as  a  book  of  literature  is  beyond  question. 
In  its  finest  passages  it  is  unsurpassed  by  the  world's  greatest  masters. 
Its  literary  range  also  is  very  wide,  extending  from  the  simple  story  to 
the  profound  and  complex  drama.  It  is  therefore  easily  adapted  to  the 
interests  and  capacities  of  all  grades.  Such  a  use  of  the  Bible  will  be  free 
from  most  of  the  objections  raised  against  it  in  the  past.  It  does  not 
involve  exposition  and  interpretation,  of  which  the  different  sects  are  so 
much  afraid.  In  the  hands  of  a  skilful  teacher  it  does  not  infringe  on 
the  prerogatives  of  religious  liberty,  inasmuch  as  the  Bible  as  literature 
does  not  mean  religious  instruction,  nor  touch  upon  the  grounds  of 
religious  belief.  In  short,  the  literary  use  of  the  Bible  in  the  schools 
calls  for  no  religious  interpretation  and  no  explication  of  theological 
difficulties. 


PHILOSOPHIC  ASPECTS   OF   THE   QUESTION  109 

De  Quincey  makes  a  distinction  between  the  literature  of  knowledge 
and  the  literature  of  power.  In  this  connection  he  thus  characterizes 
Milton's  Paradise  Lost:  "What  you  owe  to  Milton  is  not  any  knowledge 
of  which  a  million  separate  items  are  but  a  million  advancing  steps  on 
the  same  earthly  level.  What  you  owe  is  power;  that  is  expansion  and 
exercise  where  every  pulse  and  each  separate  influx  is  a  step  upwards — a 
step  ascending  as  upon  Jacob's  ladder  from  earth  to  mysterious  altitudes" 
(quoted  by  Prince,  Educational  Review,  II,  357).  These  words  of  De 
Quincey  are  pre-eminently  true  of  the  Bible.  This  book  through  the 
centuries  has  been  a  means  of  elevation  and  expansion  and  power.  From 
this  fountain  the  great  writers  of  the  ages  have  drunk,  and  through  them, 
like  waters  of  life,  it  has  flowed  out  through  many  diversified  channels 
and  has  thus  been  distributed  in  many  parts  of  the  earth. 

Such  a  use  of  the  Bible  could  not  fail  to  be  of  great  value  to  our 
young  people,  especially  those  of  high-school  age.  There  is  no  danger 
that  the  literary  use  of  the  Bible  will  lessen  their  appreciation  of  the 
sacred  volume.  The  effect  should  be  opposite.  As  Professor  Moulton 
has  said:  "An  increased  apprehension  of  outer  literary  form  is  a  sure  way 
of  deepening  spiritual  effect." 

In  conclusion  we  will  consider  briefly  the  religious  opportunity  of  the 
public  school  and  the  contribution  it  is  actually  making  to  the  higher  life 
of  the  pupils.  And  from  this  point  of  view  even  the  ordinary  studies, 
such  as  reading,  writing,  grammar,  etc.,  are  not  to  be  despised.  They 
open  the  gateway  to  knowledge;  they  make  accessible  the  experiences 
of  the  race,  embodied  in  the  great  literatures  of  the  world,  and  so  make 
possible  the  enlargement  and  enrichment  of  life.  And  besides,  there  is 
an  immediate  interest  and  an  immediate  advantage  to  be  gotten  from 
these  studies  if  they  be  pursued  with  diligence.  If  it  be  objected  that 
this  advantage  lies  only  in  the  direction  of  moral  development,  the 
sufficient  answer  will  be  that  for  this  period  of  life,  at  least,  moral  con- 
duct is  religion  in  action. 

But  the  religious  possibilities  of  the  higher  branches  of  the  public 
school  are  beyond  the  region  of  dispute.  Nature-study  and  elementary- 
science  bring  the  pupil  face  to  face  with  problems  which  may  become  a 
moral  inspiration  and  a  religious  incentive.  The  devout  mind  believes 
that  God  touches  men  through  the  earth  and  sea  and  sky,  and  all  the 
forms  of  life.  Such  a  study  means  a  larger  acquaintance  with  the  realm 
of  nature,  and,  while  it  need  not  involve  any  direct  religious  instruction, 
it  should  elevate  mind  and  heart  and  fill  the  soul  with  the  true  and  the 


110  RELIGIOUS   EDUCATION  IN   NEW   YORK   PUBLIC   SCHOOLS 

good.  As  one  writer  has  said:  "The  study  of  nature,  in  her  wonderful 
and  beautiful  forms,  is  truly  ethical." 

Likewise  history,  biography,  and  literature  easily  lend  themselves  to 
the  cultivation  of  the  higher  life.  It  would  seem  impossible  for  any 
earnest  teacher  to  treat  these  subjects  in  the  schoolroom  without  making 
an  impression  for  heroism  and  truthfulness  and  righteousness.  They 
bring  the  pupils  in  contact  with  the  best  phases  of  life  and  can  hardly  fail 
to  exert  a  broadening,  refining,  and  elevating  influence.  "In  literature 
the  true  teacher  has  an  agency  that,  rightly  used,  lends  to  the  richest 
development  of  religious  thought.  The  hope,  the  sacrifice,  the  heroisms 
and  fidelities,  that  literature  has  enshrined  in  its  most  perfect  art,  form 
the  subject-matter  for  religious  inspiration  to  every  earnest  student" 
(Proceedings  of  N.E.A.,  1901,  p.  547). 

It  is  still  a  mooted  question  as  to  whether  formal  moral  instruction 
should  be  given  in  the  schools.  But  there  can  be  no  question  as  to  the 
importance  of  cultivating  the  moral  virtues  in  these  public  institutions. 
It  is  sometimes  said  that  moral  instruction  gives  only  what  the  pupils 
already  have,  and  therefore  what  they  do  not  need.  It  is  pointed  out 
that  religious  and  moral  instruction  in  Germany  have  not  produced  the 
most  gratifying  results.  So  it  is  contended  that  the  public  school  should 
cultivate  moral  sentiments  and  habits,  and  develop  the  moral  nature  of 
its  pupils.  And  we  must  acknowledge  that  what  the  pupils  heed  most 
of  all  is  moral  disposition  and  power,  and  that  any  scheme  of  moral 
education  is  a  failure  which  comes  short  of  this  perfect  work.  However, 
a  complete  statement  of  the  problem  will  include  not  only  moral  habits, 
but  moral  ideas  and  ideals.  The  cultivation  of  moral  habits  and  the 
inculcation  of  moral  ideas  should  proceed  hand  in  hand.  This  makes 
conduct  intelligent.  But  there  is  something  higher  even  than  a  stock 
of  faultless  moral  habits.  It  is  the  apprehension  of  the  ideal.  The 
ideal  is  the  sun  that  illumines  the  pathway  of  life.  Without  it,  however 
good  the  habits  may  be,  life  is  in  darkness  and  bondage.  When,  however, 
the  ideal  is  apprehended,  habits  may  be  passed  under  review  and  modified 
as  necessity  may  demand.  Now,  in  this  connection,  the  chief  point  is 
this:  the  public  school  affords  a  splendid  opportunity  for  the  cultivation 
of  moral  habits,  the  inculcation  of  moral  ideas,  and  the  discovery  of 
moral  ideals.  The  life  and  work  of  the  school  furnish  occasion  for  the 
cultivation  of  moral  habits;  and  biography,  history,  and  literature  afford 
the  means  for  the  inculcation  of  moral  ideas  and  ideals.  And  these  are 
all  the  more  effective,  perhaps,  because  incidentally  and  informally  given. 
Such  is  the  opportunity  of  the  school  in  respect  to  moral  education,  and 


PHILOSOPHIC  ASPECTS   OF   THE   QUESTION  III 

that  this  opportunity  is  being  extensively  utilized  hardly  admits  of  doubt. 
It  is  to  be  hoped,  however,  that  in  the  near  future  there  shall  be  no  pos- 
sible room  for  doubt. 

Finally,  it  is  believed  the  public  school  exerts  a  wide  influence  for 
good  through  the  personality  of  its  teachers.  This  is  the  most  important 
factor  in  education.  Religion  and  morality  incarnate  in  the  teacher  are 
worth  more  than  all  else  besides.  Emerson  well  said,  "It  is  little  matter 
what  you  learn,  the  question  is  with  whom  you  learn."  It  is  impossible 
to  exaggerate  the  personal  agency.  The  following  sentiments  are  fully 
indorsed:  "The  most  potent  of  all  forces  is  the  personal  life  of  the 
teacher.  Young  lives  are  easily  molded  and  directed  by  the  strong, 
earnest  life  of  a  Christian  teacher.  If  our  schools  are  taught  by  men  and 
women  of  sound  ethical  and  spiritual  lives,  devoted  in  the  most  con- 
scientious way  to  the  work  of  building  up  in  the  children  the  highest 
elements  of  worthy  manhood  and  noble  womanly  character,  shall  we  not 
have  met  the  most  important  condition  of  religious  education  ?"  (Pro- 
ceedings of  N.E.A.,  1901,  p.  548). 

It  must  therefore  be  freely  acknowledged  that  the  public  school  is  a 
very  important  ally  in  the  work  of  religious  education.  Its  contribution 
to  this  worthy  end  is  not  to  be  despised.  Yet,  after  all,  the  public  school 
has  its  severe  limitations.  As  we  have  said,  it  cannot  give  a  complete 
training.  The  great  burden  of  religious  education  still  rests  upon  the 
agencies  of  the  home  and  the  church,  and  there  is  no  prospect  that  this 
burden  will  soon  be  shifted  to  other  shoulders.  Neither  the  church  nor 
the  home  can  escape  its  tremendous  task,  its  gigantic  responsibility. 
May  there  be  no  shirking  of  the  task,  no  evasion  of  the  responsibility! 
Nay,  rather  let  this  demand  be  met  with  large  equipment,  with  ample 
intelligence,  with  unfailing  courage,  and  with  passionate  devotion. 


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